


The Dock of the Bay

by officialfoxsquadron



Series: fox 'verse [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Flashbacks, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied Relationships, No Sex, Original Character Death(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Build, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:32:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 31,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3796810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/officialfoxsquadron/pseuds/officialfoxsquadron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has a secret. Luke Skywalker doesn’t know that he’ll be thrust into a world chock-full of them.<br/>After winning the decisive battle over Yavin and becoming a hero by blowing up the Death Star, Luke has caught the eye of the Rebel Alliance. Specifically, an top-secret faction of the Rebellion that is shrouded in mystery, but rumored to be associated with a legendary guild of assassins that has existed for centuries. Luke is recruited, and suddenly finds himself surrounded by a colorful cast of characters, each with their own unique backstory.<br/>Set between ANH and ESB. The first work in the Fox 'verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an Alternate Universe version of Star Wars, spawned before and during the time when the EU was rebranded as "Legends." This is basically the result of a lot of "what ifs" asked about certain events, characters, and situations. Some characters from the EU may show up, however, since I have made several significant alterations to canon, it is very unlikely. This revolves around several OC's and a few canon characters.  
> Although the Star Wars universe itself is not mine, my original characters, expanded canon, Coruscanti/Lower and original worlds _are_ my own and my intellectual property. Taking inspiration or blatantly taking elements without my explicit permission is stealing.  
>  The "Foxverse" main story spans from the end of A New Hope until ten years after the destruction of the second Death Star. Hope you all enjoy.

 

Luke Skywalker awoke to a bright light, a pounding headache, and the sudden realization he was alone in the world.

Alone on a strange planet that had so much green it was unnaturally beautiful, in a bunkroom where his best friend once slept that was now unnaturally quiet. Wedge had told him not to dwell on it too long, so he reluctantly rose from the bunkroom and went to the mess hall, which was bound to be filled with activity.

To be honest, he was still reeling from the night before. He somehow ended up drinking the strongest liquor this side of Coruscant, and it really seemed to have an effect. Not only that, but about a million people he had never met before had offered to buy him drinks. He stuck close to Han and Leia, but Leia disappeared sometime during the night, and Han a short time after. He found some comfort in palling around with Wedge, but even he seemed to have other things on his mind, but a never ending supply of smuggled liquor.

The mess hall, as Luke expected, was filled with people. Wedge quickly waved him over to his table.

“Hey, Luke, how’re ya feelin’?”

Luke gave him a half-hearted smile as he sat down. “Like everything’s too bright and loud.”

Wedge laughed. “Yeah, I get that. You could try to eat some of the slop they give us, if you want.”

“I think I’ll pass. That looks like it’ll just upset my stomach further.”

“Listen, I know you’re bunkroom’s empty and everything, so why don’t you stay with us?”

“Us as in…”

“Me and my roommates. We have an extra bunk you can crash on for a little bit, until the Rebellion decides to let you sleep somewhere else.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

“Great. Meet me back in the A Barracks, room 37.”

“Thirty-seven. Got it.”

“See you around, kid.”

And for the fourth time in five days, Luke Skywalker was alone.

* * *

 

“I don’t know why you insist on this, Wedge.”

“You know that was not just luck. A shot like that? Without a targeting computer? Luck is utter bullshit. Kid’s got more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body. And I’m a pretty good pilot.”

“I don’t know, Wedge, he’s only been here for five days. And I’ve never met him.”

“He’s a nice kid. Plus, it’s not like I had time to get to know you before we started teaming up.”

“That’s different. I was literally born for this.”

“Just trust me on this one. Listen, he can stay in our bunkroom for a few days, we can monitor him. Scope him out, see how you feel about him then.”

“Alright. How much time do I have?”

“Until the next mission.”

“I’ll report back to you soon.”

“Ok.”

* * *

 

Luke knocked on the door of Barrack A, room 37 with an Alliance-issue duffel bag holding all of his possessions, which at that point, wasn’t much.

The door swung open and he was greeted by possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Her brown skin was covered in tattoos, her hair in locs and tied back in a ponytail and her face seemed to have a regal quality to it, even though she was clearly not wearing makeup.

“You Skywalker?” She spoke with an accent he had never heard before.

“Yeah...I’m assuming you’re not Wedge’s roommate.”

“No, I’m just here for the ‘fresher. Ours isn’t working. Come on in.”

Luke stepped into the bunk room, which had only three single beds, a rarity in Alliance dorms, it seemed. One had Wedge’s flightsuit strewn across it, the other had piles of datapads and important-looking files on it. The third was completely bare. The room was filled with the sound of a running shower and jatz music coming from a datapad.

“This one mine?” Luke asked, pointing to the empty bunk.

“Yup, that’s yours.” The woman plopped down on Wedge’s bunk, grabbing discarded snack food from a table next to it.

“What’s your name?”

“Pazima,” she said, through a mouthful of food. “Pazima Reynard. People call me Paz. Want some?”

“No, I’m okay, thanks. Do you live next door?”

Paz nodded. “Smart one. Yeah, me and my sister bunk up next door, but our fresher isn’t working, so we’re using this one. Hence the noise.”

“Mmm.” Luke nodded. “Do you guys come here a lot?”

“Oh yeah, all the time. Wedge and I have known each other for years, and he takes good care of Lottie.”

“Who’s that?”

“My sister. The demon in the shower, who just stepped out, apparently.” The sound of the room was diminished to just the jatz music. “I’m surprised I didn’t meet you, actually. I’m the mech for Red Squadron, or was.”

“Really?” Luke raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that is weird we haven’t met. How long have you been a mech?”

“All my life, really. I just prefer it over flying. But I’ve always loved ships, and figuring out how they worked was always so-”

They were interrupted by a twig of a girl in nothing but boxer shorts and a sports bra, her translucent skin covered in droplets of water and all manner of ugly scars and wet red curls escaping for the towel drying them on her head.

She didn’t seem to notice Luke for a moment, lost in her feet jiving to the music, until she looked up and saw both Paz and Luke trying to hide their laughter.

“Holy fuck!” she shouted in a thick Coruscanti accent. “Why does no one tell me when we have people over?”

Paz guffawed at the young woman, bent over in laughter at her face. “Oh my god, this is priceless.”

“This is your fault!” she yelled, turning red and trying to contain her own laughter. “If you had told me-”

“Speak for yourself, you could have heard him!”

“Next time, warn me when your little boy toys are coming over.”

“Woah, woah, woah, I’m not a...boy toy!” Luke protested.

“Then why the hell are you-Oh. You’re Skywalker, aren’t you.”

“Yeah. Just as a question, does anyone actually call each other by their first na-”

“Lottie Reynard, and no is the answer. I suppose you’ll refer to me as the girl in the bra from now on.” She reached past him to slip on a baggy shirt from the other man’s bunk.

“If you want to.”

“Not particularly.”

“I’ll refrain from using it then.”

“Good.”

“Oh, good job,” Paz interjected. “Some people have no idea what to do with her when they meet her.”

Lottie turned to Luke. “Most people just call me the bitch with the scars. And the vine hand girl. Or sometimes I get ginger, which is a refreshing change.”

“Most people call me Luke. Or Skywalker, as it seems.”

“Yes, well,” The young girl sat on the third bunk. “It does seem you’ll be sleeping with these losers.”

Paz raised a finger.“Oh yeah, make sure they don’t get you too drunk. It’s never good.”

“And stay out of the room when Pazzy and Wedge are alone in it, just trust me.”

Paz gave Lottie an obscene gesture, causing the younger girl to throw her head back in laughter.

“What’s going on in here?" A fourth voice joined the mix, a male's this time. "Are you two drinking my liquor?"

"No, Jax," the girls chorused.

"Jax Collins, Luke Skywalker, your new roommate," Paz said with a gesture of her hand.

"Oh, nice to meet you!" Jax enthusiastically hugged him, his smile wide. "I have been  _so_ sick of just Wedge."

"Who stayed in the room before this?" Luke asked. Sick of just Wedge...meaning that they had a spare bunk all this time, and not bothered to share it?

"Um, I can't remember," Jax said. "Was it...Hanlien? Hanlien, that was it. He died about two years ago."

 _Two years?_ Why didn't anyone else share the bunk in that time? Perhaps it was the moves that forced them to have the spare bunk. 

"Anyways, I was gonna tell you guys the radio is reporting on the Death Star."

"Put it on! Put it on!" Lottie chorused, jumping to grab an ale. "You want one, Luke?"

"Sure." She deftly tossed him a beer, and joined Paz on Wedge's bed.

Out of the datapad formerly playing jatz was now a deep, official voice with a definite Core Worlds accent.

"...Imperial citizens should consider it their civil duty to provide info about the destruction of the Death Star. Any names, descriptions, or other information about the traitors who committed this act of terrorism should be brought to light immediately to aid the manhunt of the Rebel pilot who destroyed the..."

"Ayo!" Lottie pointed at Luke, but was shushed by Jax and Pazima.

"This is truly one of the worst tragedies committed against our great Empire since the days of the Clone Wars. His Excellency Emperor Palpatine wishes to extend his deepest sympathy for the for the loved ones of those who have perished, and also agrees with our sentiment that any and all information on the Rebel Alliance would be one of the highest duties any citizen of the Empire could do. Furthermore, if you or your family members are affiliated with the Rebels, please turn yourself or the other traitors in and face significantly reduced punishment than if you are caught committing an act of treason.

Finally, we have one more announcement for tonight. There is an update to the Empire's official list of wanted criminals. At the top of the list is now the pilot responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. Again, any and all information about this pilot should be presented to your local Imperial officials. Next, of course, is the Fox..."

"Woah, nice job dude, you kicked out the Fox!" Jax clapped him on the back.

"Um, who's the Fox."

"Hold up. You don't know who the Fox is?" Pazima scoffed, grabbing an ale. "Where did you live again?"

"Tatooine."

"Explains it. Middle'a nowhere. Listen, the Fox is this...Lottie, help me out here."

"So basically, the Fox is this assassin that we think-"

"We think," Jax emphasized.

Lottie nodded. "Is working for us. No one really knows for sure, but he or she keeps doing stuff to help us out."

"I think they stole the Death Star plans. They got on the list because they killed one of the Grand Moffs a while back."

"Oh. Isn't that sort of illegal?" Luke asked.

"Luke Skywalker, you are the most wanted man in the galaxy, and you're berating the Fox because they did something that was sort of illegal?"

"Stop harassing my roommate, Pazima."

"Oh, well, look who decided to show up." Pazima turned to Wedge, who had just walked into the room.

"Right, and it's lights out." Wedge jabbed a finger at the door.

"I guess Dad just kicked us out," Lottie said sarcastically.

"We all know Wedge wouldn't be kicking Paz out if it was just him," Jax said, with a smirk to Lottie.

Lottie bent over laughing, high-fiving Jax as they laughed, the room practically silent otherwise.

"I'll kick you out too, Jax."

Jax began imitating Lottie's accent. "Oh no sah, please sah, I'm a poor child living on the terrible world of Cohruhscahnt-"

"I'm leaving, I don't have to take this abuse-"

"I have no money, you see. Rather a tough situation, innit."

Lottie stuck her tongue out at Jax, who only laughed in return.

"Bye Luke. Try to get some sleep with this clown." she said as she sauntered out the door.

"Goodbye," Paz said, gracefully getting up from the bed and heading out of the room.

Wedge quickly shut off of the lights, shutting Jax up as he seemed a little hyper. In the dark, Luke was again plagued with loneliness, but then thought back to the memories from previously, a strange little girl and her sister that seemed to be the most mismatched pair of all time, and his two new roommates. 

One thought still stuck with him though. Jax and Wedge said there last roommate died two years ago. The thought of sharing his place was chilling. Luke knew that a pilot's life expectancy was not long, but it seemed ominous nonetheless.

Oh well. In the world of freedom fighters, it seemed that everything had to do with death one way or another.


	2. Chapter 2

Luke couldn't sleep that first night.

Wedge shut the lights off, and after the three of them talked over their home planets for a little bit (Wedge is from Corellia, like Han, and Jax was from a small farming moon called Quixin) they tried to fall asleep. Luke did sleep at first. But when he did, he couldn't get the nightmares out of his head. It was like the charred bodies of his aunt and uncle were stuck in replay, and eventually, after struggling, Luke got up.

Careful not to wake his sleeping roommates, he tiptoed out of the room and quietly clicked open the door, resolving to go outside of the temple on Yavin. Perhaps the fresh, albeit humid, air would do him some good.

He was surprised how active the base still seemed to be, even at night. The medics were still working, and a few pilots were out finishing some paperwork. Luke glanced at the Falcon in the flight bay. He briefly considered going in and talking to Han, but quickly kicked that thought out of his mind. Han was probably asleep, and besides, he barely knew him. He didn't want to just vent to Han, who would probably laugh at him.

Luke continued to the outside steps of the temple. They were completely deserted, and for once, a cool breeze was blowing through the forest. He sat down in the middle of the steps, pulling his knees to his chest. 

He had to admit, Yavin IV was beautiful. Luke had only seen this much green in paintings. He saw the planet, lush with forests, first from the Falcon. It caused goosebumps to raise on his arm, and he was almost brought to tears. The dense forests and the decrepit temple adorned with ivy were something out of his wildest dreams. Now, the trees seemed to whisper to him as the wind whistled through the branches, saying "We know. We know what happened here."

Luke's thoughts turned to Biggs. He realized that his friend probably had the same thoughts of him. That thought made him smile. That was why they are-were-good friends: deep down, they came from the same place and had the same dreams.

"Hey."

Luke jumped as one of the sisters he met yesterday, the one with scars and red hair, clamored down the steps.

"Hi, um...you were the one in the-"

"Lottie," she said with a chuckle, joining him on the steps. "Lottie Reynard."

"Right, sorry." Luke turned his head downcast.

"That's alright. You were about to say the one in the bra, weren't you?"

It was Luke's turn to laugh. "That was pretty memorable."

Lottie nodded, pulling out a box from the pocket of her jacket. In the moonlight, Luke saw that the left side of her face was totally ravaged by a deep scar cutting across her eye. One half of her cheek seemed to puff out more than the other, and her eyebrow was cut clean in half.

"Do you want a cigarra?" Lottie opened the pack to him, a stray few cigarras in it. Again, Luke noticed something odd about this girl. Her hands were covered in a black tattoo that looked like vines, going everywhere from her palms to the back of her hands to the wrist.

"No thanks," Luke said, with a smile. It seemed to him that saying he had never smoked before would only make her laugh. It seemed everyone around here had a vice.

Lottie shrugged. "Suit yourself." She lit the cigarra, puffing out a cloud of smoke. "Couldn't sleep?"

Luke nodded. "You know, I've never seen this much green before. It's really striking."

"Striking." Lottie paused, as if to contemplate the word. "I know how you feel. I didn't see any suns, or even the sky 'till I was twelve."

"Really?" Luke turned to her. "Why?"

"You can't tell by my accent?" She laughed. "I grew up in Lower Uscru Entertainment District in Coruscant. Basically meaning, the only light I saw was made by a generator."

"Ah. I've never been there."

"Yeah, well, it ain't exactly tourist material. It's dirty and filled with all sorts of crime. I used to dream about seeing the stars one day just to distract myself from it all." Lottie's face filled with smoke again. "I have no idea why the hell I'm telling you this."

"No, keep going. It's alright. I used to do the same thing."

"Really?"

"Mmhm. I used to look off into the sunset, dreaming about the time when I could get away from all of this and live an exciting life." Luke paused for a moment, a heavy sigh escaping from his body. "Didn't know it would end up like this."

Lottie nodded, a faraway look in her eyes. "Everyone here's got a tragedy, kid. I'm sorry about yours." She kept on smoking. The smell of the cigarra was intoxicating, a mix of D'ian orchids and vormur. 

They were silent again, as Luke thoughts turned back to his aunt and uncle's skeletons outside of his home on Tatooine, Ben's robe falling to the ground, Biggs' X-Wing shot up in a flash."I don't know. I thought that I could just escape from all of this by going to the Imperial Academy. Hell, I didn't even really have political views before this. It all just changed so fast."

Lottie nodded. "That happened to me too. You feel like one day you knew exactly who you were, exactly where you were going, and all of a sudden, it all goes to shit."

Luke laughed, but his voice was hollow. "You could say that. I lost my family. I lost Ben too, and Biggs."

"Who were they? Ben and Biggs."

"Biggs was my friend from Tatooine. He was a fighter in Red Squadron."

"Oh, I knew him. He was nice."

Luke smiled, a small, sad one. "Yeah. I don't know, when he told me he was joining the Rebellion I didn't believe it. Then when Leia told me we were going to our base I got so excited to see him."

Lottie nodded, letting Luke sit for a minute. "What about Ben? Who was he? If you don't mind talking about it."

Luke shook his head. "No, it's fine. He was...well, I didn't even know him well. But he knew stuff about my dad, and me. I just feel like he was the key to everything, y'know?"

"You're an orphan?" Lottie asked.

"Yeah."

"Welcome to the club," Lottie deadpanned.

"You don't have parents?" Luke asked.

"Nope."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's alright, I never knew them anyway. I had people who were like family. And Pazzy, of course. We're not technically related, in case you couldn't tell."

Luke snorted. "Oh yeah, you two just look completely alike."

"We're total opposites," Lottie laughed. "I mean, I'm practically a ghost, and Paz is a goddess or something. It's rather annoying."

Luke laughed, and the two sat in silence for a few moments. "What about you? What's your story?"

Lottie smirked. "All in due time, Skywalker. For now, just know that I was part of Circus Horrificus."

"Oh." Luke fell silent for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. That's how I got the scars, y'know. I danced with swords and twirled them and stuff. I was really good at it, actually, but practicing swords at age five was a pretty bad idea, if you asked me. And I have a tattoo of them, right here, see?" Lottie turned to her right side, where Luke could barely make out a small symbol that looked a bit like a bird behind her ear.

"Is that where you got the, um-"

"The vines? No, that was somewhere else. Remind me to tell you about it sometime."

 _Why not now?_ Luke almost said, but realized that Lottie was looking at her hands with some sort of scorn as she put the cigarra back in her mouth.

Lottie sighed, and then stood up. "I think I'm gonna try to go back to sleep now. You coming?"

Luke shook his head. "I'll stay out here a little longer, but thank you."

Lottie crushed the cigarra under her slippered feet and began to jog up the steps, but Luke stopped her. "Wait, Lottie."

"Yes?" She turned around, already almost at the door.

"Can I ask you sort of a weird question?"

She turned to him, arms crossed. "Depends on what it is."

"Do you believe in the Force?"

Lottie was taken aback, but took her time to respond. "I believe in a lot of things," she answered thoughtfully. "I've _seen_ a lot of things. For there to be a mystical energy out there that people can use to read minds and move objects or whatever doesn't seem all that strange."

"So you believe in it?"

"I don't know if I really believe in it, but I suppose it could exist, yeah. Why'd you ask?"

"I was just...thinking." Luke shrugged. He didn't know if he should tell Lottie about the fact that  _he_ might be able to touch the Force. Hell, hearing voices of dead men in your head was suspicious enough.

Lottie nodded. Luke thanked the stars she seemed to know when to let things go. "G'night, Luke."

"Night."

The footsteps of the young woman rang out against the warm Yavin night, the only accompaniment the chirp of the native insects. The air was still again, the trees had stopped their whistling.

Luke pushed himself off of the steps and retreated back into the dark bunkroom. The snoring of his two bunkmates what the only distraction from a peaceful night's rest.

 


	3. Interlude 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Gore, Violence, Torture

_The facility itself was clean and sterile and completely white. Pure. It made the man standing so stoically think to laugh. If it weren't for the fire clearly in his eyes, he would have. He was the only thing disrupting the peaceful environment._

_You see, the dark blood of the other workers he had spilled certainly stained the white._

_As did the two humans in the chairs opposite where the man was overlooking the eerie quiet of the hospital. Bound but not gagged, the man' in the chair's glasses were shattered and his face dirty, and the woman's hair was knotted with blood._

_"You have to let us go, Todd," the woman pleaded. "Please._

_"Why?" the man answered softly. "Why should I? What you did here is an abomination-"  
_

_"What we did was create_ life _, son," the bespectacled man answered. "She is your sister."_

_Todd laughed, a menacing one. "She is about my sister as you are my parents. She shares none of my genes. You created a monster, not a human."_

_"She is as human as you and I. We've cared for her from embryo to fetus to now, birth."_

_"Yes, but you also pre-selected each strand of DNA to make her an emotionless killing machine. Do you_ realize  _how wrong that is? The last time beings were created from nothing was during the Clone Wars. And those were just_ clones. _Last time I checked, those clones slaughtered the Jedi order simply on the whim of a madman!_ _Can you imagine what this..._ thing  _can do?"  
_

_"She is just a baby, Todd," the woman said. "Just a baby. She has caused no harm to anyone."  
_

_"You were the one who came in here and committed the slaughter, Todd."_

_"And whose fault is that?" Todd spat, rage spilling from every point in his body as he assaulted the man. "Who was the one who told me to become a killer? I never wanted to be a killer if it weren't for your delusions of glory!"_

_"We didn't intend for you to kill innocent workers and capture your own parents!" the father yelled back._

_"Well, guess what, Dad, I kill innocents every day. You think that when I blow up a building that those people don't have families, wives, husbands, children that they won't ever come home to ever again?"  
_

_"If they do, what does it matter? They're against the Empire."  
_

_"What does it matter-They are alive! They are real! And you want to create this life just to throw it away by having her kill?"  
_

_"She was born to save the galaxy, Todd. And she will."  
_

_Todd rolled his eyes and sighed, pacing again to the window. "This is disgusting. Out of all the years of my life, I have never seen anything that has made me more horrified that you two call me your son."_

_"You are our son, Todd." His mother had tears in her eyes. "Please. Just let us go and we'll listen. We can fix all of this."_

_"You're right. We can." Todd turned, and in the blink of an eye, fired two shots of his blaster straight into his parents' heads._

_There was no blood. No pain. Only death. And in the midst of it all, a baby giggling._

_A silent witness to it was the baby in the hospital crib in the back of the room, hooked up to all sorts of medical moniters. She had a bright smile on her too-cute face, her wispy curls creating a halo around her head._

_"Yeah, you're just a fucking angel, aren't you," Todd muttered. He knew that even though her hair was blond now, it would soon turn the exact shade of carrot red that his was. What a nice sentiment that was from his parents. Model a future murderer after their own son._

_Todd pointed the blaster at her head. Do it now, and it would be quick, painless. The baby would feel nothing._

Besides,  _a small voice said in the back of his mind._ You could retire. And the world is better off without her, anyway.

_He lifted the blaster higher, but it shook in his hands as the tiny baby started giggling, waving her fat fists in the air._

You can't kill a baby,  _a more sensible voice jutted in._ You're no better than the Empire then.

_Todd sighed, defeated, and slung the blaster in his holster. He unwrapped the little girl from her monitors and scooped her up in his arms. Betraying everything he thought, she rested her little head against his chest, such a natural, human gesture it caught him off-guard. Todd put his hand hesitantly on her head, the curls soft to his touch. His eyes closed for a minute._

_He planned on killing the child. However, his plan had changed. He carried the girl out of the room and to his ship, docked in the bay of the hospital._

_He had to hide her. The Empire would be after them, certainly. He did know one place for them to go. He could drop her off there, never think of her again._

_Then he would be free to retire._


	4. Chapter 4

Luke flopped on his bunk in the hangar, exhausted from his two-day mission to retrieve funds with Han and Leia. It had went well, sure, but altogether uninteresting and supremely tiring. For the past month, he had barely had time to even think, let alone really sleep. The Alliance had evacuated from Yavin almost as soon as Luke had landed, and their fleet was currently in limbo in orbit around Kevar. When he was on the fleet, he was utterly alone. His bunk mates, even the sisters, were off on some secret mission off-world. Even when he and Wedge flew a small evac, he was oddly quiet.

The bunk room was clearly abandoned. Jax's datapad was still turned on, and in the middle of writing a report. So they were back. Luke would talk to them after he got a few hours' nap. His eyes drifted off to sleep, but his ears perked as he heard muffled shouting in the room next to him.

It was the sisters. Curious, he pressed his ear to the wall, and picked up the snippets of a conversation.

"You are such an idiot!" The voice was deep, smooth. That was Paz.

"I have a tattoo, it's not like I can hide it!" Shrill, coarse. Lottie's voice.

"You knew him for a day and you told him your whole life story?!"

Him-they were talking about Luke!

"Not my whole life-Listen. I just trust him. I don't know what it is."

"You've been doing this for how long and you told a complete stranger about Horrificus on a hunch?"

"I'm sorry, Paz, alright?! He was gonna find out anyway."

"How?!"

"Wedge is gonna recruit him. Even you said he was a good pilot!"

_Recruit me for what?!_

"He is." Paz's voice softened to the point where Luke could barely hear her. "Listen, just be more careful, Lot, okay?"

"I will. Listen, I gotta go to work."

Luke turned in his bed. Recruit him for what, exactly?! Why was Lottie telling him something that even she agreed was obvious so bad?

Luke knew they were all hiding something. He thought the gaps in Lottie's story were just painful parts in her memory. Now, it seemed, there was a different reason for her secretiveness.

* * *

"Hey! Kid! You awake?"

Han's scratchy voice was blaring over Luke's comlink. Luke blearily pawed at it, just missing dropping it.

"Just got up, Han," he mumbled. "What's going on?"

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to come over and grab a few drinks."

Luke smiled. "Don't you know that liquor's illegal?"

"Yeah, yeah. Get your lazy ass down to the Falcon."

"Okay." Luke turned the comlink off and headed out the door, lazily putting on a jacket.

When he reached the Falcon, Han had already capped off two ales and had the radio blaring. "Hey Luke! Glad you made time for me in your busy sleep schedule."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I just saw you three hours ago."

"What can I say? I get lonely."

Luke took an ale graciously and began drinking. "So, has Leia debriefed you on the mission yet?"

Han shook his head. "Nah. Went pretty smoothly, actually. I was suprised. Bankers aren't usually known for their willingness to help illegal resistance groups."

Luke shrugged. "Maybe this one was particularly partial."

Han mumbled something negative through his drink. "No. That part of Tanaab isn't exactly known for its freedom fighter stance. Someone must've threatened him."

The words sparked something in Luke's head. "You know, all of the missions we've been on so far have gone pretty well. I didn't expect that after, you know." Luke tilted his head to the side, to imply the Death Star.

"Neither did I. You've got a guardian angel, kid."

Luke laughed, but hung his head as Han turned up the radio, tuned to an Imperial channel.

"We now repeat our warrant for the number two most wanted being in the galaxy, The Fox. Wanted on over 50 counts of murder since the creation of the great-"

"Have you heard anything about the Fox?" Luke said, eyebrows raised. His roommates were altogether vague about the Fox, like they were about everything else. However, they regarded them as a hero-something Luke simply could not, especially someone who killed more than 50 people since the Clone Wars.

 _You've killed more,_ a tiny voice said in his head. Luke pushed it out of his mind.

"The Fox?" Han's voice drifted into Luke's consciousness. "Totally. She's notorious in the old smuggler channels."

"She?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "I thought no one knew if it was a man or a woman."

"Definitely a she. I've never met her myself, but one of my old pals did."

"Who?"

"Fella named Lando. He was smuggling some spice when he got captured on this Imperial ships. One of the Moffs was threatening to do something rather-distressing, shall we say, when this blaster shot came outta nowhere, shot the Moff perfectly in the head."

"How did your friend know it was the Fox?"

"Hold up, kid, I ain't finished yet. So Lando instantly starts strugglin' to get rid of those cuffs they put you in when bam! One more shot, clean in between Lando's hands. Coulda killed him, or at least blasted a hand off. Lando looks up to see where the shot came from, and this woman swings in from about nowhere, Lando can't see her face, it's completely covered in armor, down to her hair and everything."

"How could he tell it was a woman, then?"

"There are ways, Luke. I'll tell you when you're older. Anyway, she hands him a blaster, tells him in a voice that Lando described as "the most beautiful thing his ears had been blessed with" to get himself on a ship, and started running off and cleaning house."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

"Yeah. I'll tell you, I don't have a lotta respect for assassins, but at least this one has decent courtesy. Now come on, finish your drink. I wanna hear drunk Tatooine stories."

Luke chuckled, and swung his drink back.

* * *

 

When Luke stumbled back to his apartment, dazedly flipping on the lights, he found it, yet again, empty. He set his keys down on his bedside table and changed into a pair of sleep pants, ready for some much needed rest.

When he fumbled around in the dark, he found a stock card resting on the bed. Confused, he flipped on the lights to read it.

The card was embossed with gold foil and was thick, expensive paper. In fancy lettering it read in Basic:

LUKE SKYWALKER

WE REQUEST YOUR PRESENCE AT A DINNER IN YOUR HONOR.

It was signed with a symbol Luke had never seen before, and under it-

THE FOXES

As soon as Luke read those words, the room went dark again, and Luke found it hard to breathe. Something-or someone-had placed a cloth bag over his head.

Luke muffled a call for help, but a small yet firm hand silenced him.

He felt a sharp blow to the head, and then everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

The bright light of the chandelier was the first thing to reach Luke's eyes when he regained consciousness.

"Where am I?" he mumbled.

His eyes readjusted and found himself in an ornate dining room, complete with a long, shiny table and a feast laid out before his eyes. It was more food than Luke had ever seen-and all of it presented like something out of a holofilm, too fancy for any words. And too perfect. It all felt fake.

"What the he-"

"I see you're awake." A very familiar Coruscanti accent reached his ears, and Luke saw the blurry redness focus into Charlotte Reynard, sitting across from him at the table.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Really? You?"

"Disappointed?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. She was a different Lottie than the one who stumbled into the apartment a few weeks ago. More collected, more calm. The smirk never seemed to leave her mouth, and she eyed him like trapped prey.

"I don't know," he responded. "Where am I?"

Lottie clucked her tongue. "That's classified."

"Well, what can you tell me?" Luke spat out.

Lottie stood up, revealing a black jumpsuit outfitted with all sorts of gleaming knives, and two blasters attached to her thighs. She quickly removed two swords which were sheathed at her back, their metal gleaming in the light of the chandelier.

"Do you know what these are, Luke?"

"Swords."

"Good. Know that if you repeat anything that has been revealed in this little dinner, I'll use these beauties to slice that throat of yours open, then I go after your friends next. Understood?" She ran her finger along the blade of one.

Luke gulped. "Yes."

"Alright. I suppose you can guess who I am."

"You're the Fox."

"You're doing well so far. You're wondering why you're here."

"Of course."

"I need a pilot. Well, I don't, we do."

"We?"

Lottie motioned with her hand, and the doors opened, and Pazima, Wedge, and Jax stepped through, taking their seats at the table.

"Wait, are you-You're kidding me."

"Nope." Jax shook his head.

"All of you are-Wait. I thought there was only one Fox."

"There's two, technically. Lottie and I." Pazima mentioned with her hand to Lottie, who began twirling a blade with her fingers, her piercing eyes locked on Luke. "Jax right here is our inventor-slash-hacker, and Wedge is our pilot-slash-strategist-slash-muscle man-slash-whatever else we need him to be."

"So then why do you need me?" Luke said. "You seem perfectly fine on your own."

"Well," Wedge said, drumming his fingers on the table. "You're special, aren't you?"

"I am?"

"You're an amazing pilot. That shot on the Death Star was amazing, and without a targeting computer?" Wedge let out a low whistle.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you a Jedi?" Lottie folded her hands together.

Luke shook his head. "No. Not by any means."

"Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was, are you Force-sensitive?"

Luke was caught off-guard. How did she-"Yes. I am."

"I can tell. I'm not myself, but I was raised around them. Force-sensitives, I mean. You're just like them-"

"Lottie, this is not storytime," Pazima uttered under her breath.

Lottie briefly paused at Pazima's comment, but quickly returned to her frightening persona. "We could use a Force-sensitive."

"Your pay will triple, Luke," Jax offered. "And you'll get to take out some evil Imperial sonsofbitches."

"What do I have to do?"

Pazima passed him a folder, stamped everywhere with Top Secret signs."We have a ship. Wedge can show you the ropes of it, and you'll train with it for a little while. Most of us can fly it, save Loll over here, so you won't have to go on every mission. We'll only need you when we need big evacs, or flying in dangerous country."

Luke flipped through the file, a picture of a new freighter there Luke had never seen, plus specifications and schematics. At the top read, "The Prophet."

"She's beautiful," Luke muttered.

"She's based on old Imperial freighters. You'll have your own cabin aboard the ship, and Ajax will help you out."

"Ajax?"

"The AI aboard. Designed by Jax here."

"Get it? Ajax, Jax-" Wedge elbowed him in the ribs.

Pazima gave them a glare cold enough to freeze to the core, and then continued. "Everything here is strictly private, of course. But Jax is right, we only kill Imperials, no questions. Your pay will triple and we get bonuses, if you would like to call them that. All we ask is three week's training with us. You'll be staying on the ship mainly with Jax, of course, but we need you in best fighting condition and to learn the ropes of recon. I'm going to warn you, trainings' tough. But Wedge and Jax got through it, and so will you."

"What about you two? Did you have to go through training?" He was desperate for answers.

Lottie smiled. "A years' worth for me."

"Same here," Paz said.

"Where'd you guys go?"

"Classified," they chorused.

Luke groaned, and Lottie gave an uncharacteristic giggle-or was it characteristic?

"Are you in? Or not?"

Luke looked over the file. The ship was beautiful, and hell, he wanted to change the world, right?

"I'm in."

The entire group smiled, and Lottie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you know how hard it is to have that persona all the time? 'Disappointed?'" She smirked in a mockery of the self she was five minutes ago.

"To be fair, you play intimidating well," Luke countered.

"Yeah, yeah."

Luke got up from his chair. "So. You gonna take me back to base? Where's training?"

"We'll be there in three hours, kid." Wedge threw Luke's packed duffel bag to him. Luke stood in stunned shock as Jax clicked a button and the fancy decor went away, only showing a large white room with mismatched chairs and a small folding table.

"Welcome to the Prophet."


	6. Interlude 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the following dialogue is translated from Lower Coruscanti or Ancient Coruscanti, a "dead" language almost exclusive to the Dorchesters.

_Todd Greenberg was no foreigner to Coruscant. Well, more specifically, the seedy underbelly of Coruscant, and the best places to drop off unwanted children with a knack for killing._

_That place was Circus Horrificus. The Circus was a stagefront for the Dorchester family, a mafia that had no political affiliations, but certainly no love for the Empire. Their main camp was in the Uscru Entertainment District, just far away enough from the red-light district to keep the Empire out, but just close enough to know they were a threat. Currently, the Empire did not kill them because of their political influence-tuck away the hair of several Imperial officials and you would find the brand of the circus, a symbol for "family" left over from the old Coruscanti language._

_When Todd walked into the complex, he was greeted in that language, which he knew was the only one the Dorchesters would speak at home._

_He held up the child to the plump woman, speaking in Basic. "I'm here to drop her off. I can make a deal."_

_The woman understood him (they all understood Basic), she led him to the head office._

_More of a tent, the head office was a beaten-down piece of cloth, but easily the biggest besides the circus tent itself. It was a bland beige color, held up by steel beams._

_The woman motioned for him to stop, and spoke quickly in Lower Coruscanti to one of the guards by the tent._

_"You wait." Her accent was thick Lower, like all of the Dorchesters._

_Todd nodded, and absentmindedly bounced the baby in his arms. She was sleeping for once, her large eyes closed, her thin mouth opened peacefully._

_"Come in," said another voice suddenly, speaking again in Basic. This voice was Coruscanti, but a different area altogether. He couldn't quite place it._

_Todd entered. "Hello," he said, putting on a more weak disposition. The story was he actually cared for this child, he was her poor father who couldn't afford to take care of her. That would do until she was eighteen._

_There was a desk at the very end of the tent, with two men sitting across from it. One was pale with a thin nose and mouth and black hair that curled over his forehead, giving him an almost comical look about him. The other man was more gruff and intimidating, with gray scruff, a receding hairline, and black thick-rimmed glasses._

_The gruff man spoke first, in fast Lower that Todd roughly translated as "Do you speak it?"_

_Todd shook his head no, and the black haired man began speaking._

_"I will speak for him, his Basic is not as good as you and I's, yes?" His voice was nasal, and spoke as if the entire sentence was one word. "You would like us to take the baby?"_

_Todd nodded, tears forming in his eyes. "Please. Her mother died in childbirth and we are very po-"_

_"Cut the bullshit." The black haired man's eyes turned cold. "You do not love her, this I know. We are not new to this. What is the real reason?"_

_Todd dropped the facade quick, the tears stopped their stream down his face and his eyes matched the men across from him. He was not a stranger to being intimidated. "Have you heard of the Foxes?"_

_His eyes perked up. He turned to his silent partner and whispered something in Lower to him. "Often. Are you the Fox?"_

_Todd nodded. "That's what she will be. In eighteen years, I will return for her."_

_"Why can't you leave her with you?"  
_

_"She isn't Human."_

_"Hapan then?"_

_"No. My pa-colleagues. They created her illegally, completely coding all of her genetics themselves. She'll grow up pretty, have red curly hair. She's coded to be a master swordswoman, will have extreme flexibility, and will pick up stealth easily. With the right training, she'll be a master assassin._

_"So you take her to a circus?" The man started chuckling. "We aren't Assassin School."  
_

_"I know. I-" Todd sighed. "I did some things to get her out. I'm asking for her chance at a normal life, a normal childhood. When she's eighteen, I'll come back for her, train her, and then it will be her decision if she wants to be the Fox or not. That is one of our codes. It's always a choice. With her, it wasn't supposed to be, and I want to get her out."_

_The man nodded, and then conversed with his partner. The two spoke rapid Lower, but Todd did notice that both of them seemed to be nodding, and no arguments._

_After about ten minutes, the man turned to him. "Me and my husband, Lel," he gestured to the man next to him, "have been looking to adopt a child for some time. We will gladly take her as our own."_

_Todd smiled. "You and him are-"_

_The black-haired man chuckled. "Yes. My name is Vincent. Yours is-"_

_"Todd. Todd Greenberg."_

_"Does she have a name?" Vincent gestured to the girl._

_"No. That is up to you. Would you like to hold her?" Todd offered the girl to them._

_Vincent nodded, a smile on his face. "Yes, very much." He gladly took the baby from his arms, and began smiling as the girl woke up, rubbing her eyes, and letting out a tiny little arm._

_Lel spoke, for the first time. "She is pretty," he said, in Basic._

_"Yes," Todd nodded. He couldn't help but smile as the two men fussed over the small baby, squirming in Vincent's arms._

_Lel spoke again to Vincent, and Vincent handed him the child, as he began speaking with Todd again._

_"We do not ask for child support. All we ask is for discrepancy. If you would like, you may visit your child, but only once a year on Visiting Day. And you must inform us of your coming beforehand."_

_"How do I inform you?" Todd had no intentions of visiting until the child was much older, but in case something happened, he would want to know.  
_

_"Drop a note in the lightpost off of 56th and Zephyr. You will know it, it has rust peeling only on the upper half of the post. Then wait for our reply. For our own reasons, we would like your comm sign."_

_Todd rattled off the numbers, but then stopped. "Soon, I'll be working at the imperial hospital in the heart of Galactic City. You can reach me there, as well."_

_"I will try, Doctor Greenberg. Would you like to say goodbye?"_

_Todd heaved a heavy sigh. "No, I shall be off. Thank you again, Lel and Vincent."  
_

_"Thank you, Todd." Vincent smiled._

_"Yes, thank you." Lel seconded, rocking the baby back and forth._

_"Goodbye."  
_

_As Todd left the tent, Vincent Dorchester turned to his husband, Lel. "She is so beautiful," he said, speaking in Lower._

_"What shall we call her?" Lel looked up._

_"Nadezhda," Vincent suggested. "After your mother."  
_

_"Yes," Lel agreed. "The children can call her Nadya."_

_"Did you see that man's hair? I wonder if her hair will turn that red."  
_

_"That is what we will call her!" Lel laughed. "Just us. Lolli. Like red. Lolli."  
_

_"Little Lolli Dorchester," Vincent said affectionately, tapping her nose. "Yes. That will be her name."_


	7. Chapter 7

Luke had never, in his whole life, been more exhausted. This counted the time when he had pulled a 48-hour racing bender with his friends on Tatooine. No, training for a week with the Foxes was a different beast. Currently, his futile attempts at throwing knives were earning him several cashews in the face from Lottie.

"Luke, you miss that board again, and it's two this time." She shoved a handful in her face, sitting on a stump tree.

They had landed on Tralus, one of the planets in the Corellian system on Wedge's estate. He had somehow managed to gloss over how he got a mansion and sixty acres of land, including a private beach on a lake filled with more water than Luke had ever dreamed of. He and Lottie were training in the woods not a half-kilometer's walk from the main house.

He had quickly learned the skills of each of the Fox Squadron's members. Jax specialized in computer hacking and weapon design. All of the weapons and gear they used was designed by him, with some help from Pazima. Pazima was an expert sharpshooter and well-trained in using many forms of blasters and explosives. Luke trained with her for a day and he could shoot a target from fifteen kilometers away, she was that good. Wedge boxed in Corellia for several years and had a natural mind for tactics and strategy. Lottie as he had found out, was a prodigy in ballet and sword dancing when she was younger. This meant that she had a knack for stealth, martial arts, gymnasts and acrobatics, and of course, swordfighting. She was trying to teach him how to throw knives, but to little avail. He had seen her throw a bullseye  _with her foot_ and instantly thought that he could master it, rather recklessly. Lottie had let him try, and was now throwing cashews at his face as punishment for failed attempts.

Luke rolled his eyes and blew his straggly hair out of his face as another cashew hit him square in the jaw. Lottie silently laughed, a finger stuck in her teeth as the lopsided smile grew."You know, this is not as easy as you make it look." Luke sat down next to her, wrapping his hands around his knees.

"Oh come on. You're wasting my good knives if you just give up." Lottie offered him a water bottle.

"You threw one  _with your foot,"_ Luke emphasized. _  
_

"And I've been doing this _since I was six_ ," Lottie mocked. "C'mon, get up. I'll actually show you how to do it this time."

"Oh, thanks. You should be a teacher when you grow up," Luke said sarcastically.

Lottie shot him a disapproving look. "I have a knife in me 'ands."

Luke chuckled. "Just show me how it's done."

"Alright, alright." She primed her aim, and then began talking. "It's not in the arm, it's a wrist motion-the arm helps of course. You just aim, flick your wrist and-" The knife hit dead center in the board in the blink of an eye. "Boom. There it is."

"Not quite as easy as blasting something, is it?" Luke muttered, grabbing the knife from the board.

"Why do you think Paz is the sharpshooter then?" Lottie did a tiny victory dance with a smug look on her face, snapping her fingers.

"I'll tell her you said that."

"Oh no, Luke's gonna tell on me, what am I gonna do?" 

Luke smirked, aiming the knife as Lottie did. "It's like in school, when someone would tell on you to the teacher."

Lottie shrugged. "Wouldn't know."

"Wait." His arms fell to his sides. "You didn't go to school?"

The girl rolled her eyes, stuffing cashews in her mouth. "Circus girl, remember?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I don't think I missed much. I mean, from what Paz tells me, geriatric-ass humanoids telling you about numbers doesn't exactly sound like my cup of tea."

Luke began aiming again. "It's not all bad. I mean, math sucks, but our art classes were fun."

"You're an artist?"

Luke threw the knife, flicking his wrist. While not Lottie's perfect deadshot, it at least hit the board this time, instead of completely missing like his previous attempts.

"Hey, I actually hit it this time!"

"I did see that. That's actually quite impressive. But I want to hear this. What do you draw?"

He shrugged. "Ships, mostly. People. Comics. Whatever. I would doodle in class instead of paying attention." Lottie handed him another knife. "I had a bunch of sketchbooks back at home. I brought one here, but I haven't got much in it."

"You could draw this place," she suggested. "It's pretty."

"Yeah, no kidding." The knife wedged itself closer to the center of the board this time. "I've never seen an actual beach before."

"Dude, the beach here is awesome. We should go swimming."

"Aren't we training?"

"Yeah, if you shut up, we could go swimming."

Luke sighed, and threw the knife. This one missed the board completely, again, and he was greeted by at least seven cashews straight at his head.

"You know, there are starving children out there." he deadpanned, grabbing the knives from the board.

"And I was one of them, so I think I get a free pass for cashew-wasting."

"So you don't think it's weird that I draw?" Luke hitched his backpack on his shoulder as Lottie strapped the knives to a holster on her belt.

She shook her head. "Why would it be?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. A lot of kids on Tatooine thought it was weird."

Lottie wrinkled her nose, and asked again, "Why?"

"I guess they just thought  _I_ was weird, probably."

"Well, you are weird." Lottie said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, thanks."

"No, I mean, we're all strange in our own ways. I mean, have you  _met_ Jax Collins?"

Luke laughed. "That is true."

"I mean, if drawing is the strangest thing to these people, then I'd like to see what they'd say about me." Lottie's voice switched to an Outer Rim announcer's obnoxious accent. "Step right up, laaaadies and gentlemen, here we have Charlotte Reynard! She's got a scar on her face and her eye is half white! Her hands are covered in vine tattoos! And most of all, she can throw a knife with her foot!"

Luke and Lottie both laughed, as leaves crunched beneath their feet. "How did you get those tattoos, by the way?"

"Okay, so, don't judge, but I kind of worked in a brothel." Luke opened his mouth to say something, but was instantly stopped. "Not as an actual whore! As a helper-I guess. I don't know. I just 'ad to do a lot of medic stuff and cook food. Wasn't that bad of a gig, in the end."

Luke nodded, a bit taken aback. "How old were you?"

"Eleven." Lottie fell silent for a moment, but the familiar smirk returned to her face. "You know, that would make good comic material." She spread her hands out, assuming the announcer persona again. "The Jedi and the Whore! Watch them as they solve the crimes of the century!"

Luke guffawed, his sides beginning to hurt. "Alright, you supply the jokes, I'll do the drawings."

Lottie high-fived him. "Got it. We'll make, like, no money, since both of those words are practically banned by the Empire."

"Not like we make money anyways."

"That is true."

As they approached the picturesque beach, a tanning Pazima lowered her sunglasses at them. "Oh, look who decided to show up. Did he hit the board?"

"Twice." Lottie laid down next to her sister. "I told him we should go swimming."

"Luke, you should have mentioned to her that you can't actually swim, seeing as you grew up on Tatooine."

Lottie exchanged a look with Luke, and threw her head back, letting out a loud groan. Paz and Luke howled in laughter. "I thought it would be rude!" He sat across from the two sisters.

"Lottie, as you can tell, isn't exactly the brightest-"

"Oh, shut up! Well, if you two won't go swimming, I will." She took off the cover up she was wearing and waded in the water. Every time, Luke was always mildly shocked at the scars that covered her legs and arms-as if a child took a red crayon and drew all over them.

"Hey, can you toss me them goggles by Paz? I'm gonna go in the deep end." Her eyes met Luke's.

"Lottie, you should always go in the deep end," Paz remarked, as Lottie put a hand on her hip.

"I am sixteen and _I_ don't even go in for that kind of joke," she retorted.

"That is the single most bullshit thing I have heard-"

"Just toss me the damn goggles, Luke, will ya?" Lottie outstretched her hands.

"I'm too lazy," Luke complained, relaxing in the sun.

"Oh, c'mon. You're all Jedi-wizard, ain't'cha, you can just lift them to me."

"No, I can't."

"You can try," Lottie suggested.

"It's been a long week, Luke, I won't judge you if you can't get it up." Lottie howled in laughter as Paz coolly put her sunglasses on with a smug smile on her face.

"I don't get it," Luke said, clueless.

"I'll tell you when you're older, Luke," Lottie said in-between giggles.

"Fine." Luke tossed her the goggles, as she swam out into the open water.

"You two are becoming fast friends," Paz remarked, no discernible expression in her voice.

"Is that a bad thing?" Luke raised an eyebrow.

"No. It's good, actually. She's not the most open person in the world, and I think she likes having someone around her own age. She was like this with Jax, too."

Jax, Luke remembered, was eighteen, a year younger than him. "Yeah."

"You should try to work on that, by the way," Paz advised. "The Force stuff. I don't think any of us can help you, but it's mostly a personal thing anyways, from what I've heard."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I'll try."

They were interrupted by a call from inside the house in Wedge's gruff voice. "Come inside, fuckers, we got ourselves a mission."

"This early?" Pazima whispered, but proceeded inside.

Luke bounded inside, a mixture of nervousness and excitement stirring in his belly.

Suddenly, Lottie caught up to him, breathless and her curly hair hanging in ringlets from the water "Hey. Looks like the Jedi and the Whore get to solve some crimes after all."

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: needles, descriptions of torture and experimentation, gore

"This guy is the mission," Wedge began, tossing a picture of an older, pale-skinned Human on the table. They were gathered in the kitchen, smoke filling the room and clouding Ajax's holographic form. "Doctor Barret Corda. You know what, I don't feel like throwing up today, so I think I'm just going to let Ajax explain why he's a piece of shit. Ajax?"

The cool voice of the holo began speaking. "It would be my pleasure, sir." Ajax began rapid-fire projecting holo images of Corda. "Doctor Baron Corda's official position is the Imperial Surgeon General. Those warnings they put on your cigarras, Miss Reynard? That's him."

Lottie coughed, the cigarra dancing between her teeth. "Asshole. There's no spice in this."

"I would agree," Ajax concluded. "However, beyond the official states, Jax and I have found illegal genetic experiments on several Humanoid and other alien species. These experiments have a nearly ninety percent fatality rate. They're trying to create, well, superpowers. Those who survive exhibit extreme mutations, sometimes grotesque." Holos flashed up of all sorts of alien and humanoid species, all in extreme pain in medical procedures that looked more like torture. "Most are exectuted after the fact. Almost all of them have gone insane-"

"Wait. Stop. Hold on that holo." Lottie got up from the table, focused on a holo of a young Umbaran girl, dead on a slab with a needle stuck in her colorless eye. "Ajax, zoom in on her ear."

"You could say please," the AI retorted back, but Lottie seemed deaf to his replies.

"Horrificus," she whispered, looking at the enlarged holo, focusing on the tattoo above her ear. 

"That's not a CH," Jax pointed out. "That's a flower."

"It's not a flower, you uneducated lampshade, it's the Circus Horrificus symbol." Lottie turned, her hands clutched at her sides. "She's a survivor."

The word was almost a bomb, the air hanging thick as soon as Lottie's harsh accent made out the _vah_ of the last syllable. No one talked about that around her, not unless she brought it up. It was an unspoken rule of the Fox Squadron-don't speak about the past unless spoken to, and don't ask questions. Luke couldn't make out her expression, it was neutral save for the cigarra still hanging from her mouth, the gray curls of the smoke blending with her hair, the age in her eyes prominent. "Ajax!" she called, after the almost solemn silence. "You got anything on this?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Reynard." Even Ajax's metallic voice softened. "I didn't even notice that. Neither did Jax."

She nodded, sitting back down with an uncharacteristic silence.

Ajax seemed to take a breath, and then continued. "As I was saying, our primary mission here is not just Doctor Corda. We have intel that he may have some of his subjects with him, and we get them out. Poor bastards have suffered long enough."

Pazima nodded. "Where is the good doctor, exactly?" she questioned.

"You'll be very happy. Do you all remember last year's mission at the Everlark Hotel?"

" _Dude."_ Paz clapped Lottie on the shoulder, making her cough out her smoke. "He's there?"

"That is right. And suffice to say, we are rehired. With an added staff member."

"Wait, wait, hold on." Luke held his hands up. "Where is this...Everlark Hotel? And why is it so great?"

"If we had a headquarters anywhere," Wedge began, "it's there. We come back as summer staff on this hotel and let's just say that we mysteriously leave after the asshole we're meant to take out is gone."

"They haven't figured it out yet?" Luke asked.

Jax shrugged. "The Empire is known to value comfort over practicality. And let me tell you, this hotel is very comforting."

"Meaning it's fancy," Paz supplied. "You don't have to act all intelligent all the time."

"Damn, Paz, just 'cause you can sing that high note doesn't mean you have to be on my ass all the time."

"Someone has to," she muttered, taking a drag from Lottie's cigarra.

"Anyway, that's where we're headed, right Jax?"

"Actually, I was waiting for Luke to plug 'em in. He is the pilot now."

Luke stood up. "Sure. Ajax, wanna tell me the coordinates?"

"I'll be right with you, sir," he said.

"Alright, be back in a moment," Luke said, strolling to the cockpit from their living room. A few minutes later, Jax joined him.

"Hey," Luke said, turning to face him. "Dinner ready yet?"

"No, no. Lottie's making a real Qixin meal. You're gonna love it."

"Sounds cool," Luke commented. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Is Pazima always so-"

"Chilly?" Jax laughed. "Cold? Frigid? Frosty? Would you like anymore synonyms?"

"So I'm not the only one who noticed?"

Jax shook his head, giving him a small smile. "No. I mean, I love Paz with all my heart, but she's not the most, um, trusting of individuals. She is the Fox, you know. All of them have secrets."

"Yeah, but, I mean, I think I know a lot about Lottie."

It was that statement that made Jax throw his head back in laughter, grabbing the sides of the copilot chair to steady himself. "Oh, Luke," he finally breathed. "I wish I was still as naive as you are."

Luke looked side to side, giving Jax a quizzical look. "You mean I don't-"

"Let me tell you. She told you she grew up at Horrificus, right? That's where the scars and one of the tats came from. Then she told you about the brothel and the vines, and then you just assumed that somehow she and Paz met up and she just became the Fox."

"I-I guess." Luke spun in his chair to face Jax. "How did you know?"

"Because she can't hide that shit," Jax said simply. "She literally has it branded on that body, you actually think she would tell us any of that if she had a choice?"

"What about Paz's tattoos?"

"Those are a cultural thing, a lot of Xuhiri have them."

"Xuhiri?"

"The planet. Where she's from. You couldn't tell by the accent?"

"No, I'm not too familiar with it," Luke mumbled.

"Yeah, well, listen. Lottie and Paz are my two best friends in the whole galaxy, but I know next to nothing about them. And I suspect it'll be the same for you. Oh, and don't worry about Paz. Honestly, she's just shy."

Suddenly, Ajax's cool, metallic voice interrupted their conversation. "You've got an incoming comm from the kitchen, boys."

A square live video popped onto the screen, Lottie's slightly smudged face appearing drinking an ale. "Dinner!" she yelled into the screen. "Jax, you better be fucking happy about these noodles, alright?"

"Hey, just as a social experiment, will you tell me anything about your past, you know, like your parents and stuff?"

Lottie laughed, nearly spitting out the ale. "Yeah, okay. You boys come in here and eat, we gotta go to the hotel tomorrow."

"I told you," Jax said, but was interrupted by Paz's holo popping up on screen as Lottie was hiding her laughter behind her hand.

"Get the  _fuck_ in here, Lot just made this drink and you're gonna get  _so fucked up_!!!" Paz began making funny faces into the camera as Lottie fell onto the table laughing.

"C'mon. Let's go eat."


	9. Interlude 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue, unless specified, is in Lower Coruscanti. Specific Lower words are written in plain text. Basic dialogue is bolded.

_"Da!"  Lel Dorchester's five-year old daughter ran up to him, her ringlet red curls in pigtails tied off with a pale pink ribbon. "Look at my ballet tutu!"_

_"You look beautiful,_ mo chedaor.  _Like a pink angel." The grey-haired man picked her up, swinging her up. His cigarra dangled inches from her face as the young girl giggled._

_"Auntie Abela says I might be able to do a show next month," Nadya squealed excitedly._

_"A show! Imagine that! You will outshine me, Lolli."_

_"The girl rolled her eyes, shaking her hair back defiantly. "Of course I will, Da, you aren't even_  in _the show."_ _T_ _he girl's father gave her a hearty laugh, carrying her up the steps to their small apartment._

_The Dorchesters' apartment was barren at best, dingy at worst.The kitchen was made almost entirely out of wood that was splintering at the edges and losing its color, turning into the brownish-green of infested trees.The metal appliances were rusty and the paint was peeling. The only thing that worked properly was probably the light fixture, as no one needed it due to the almost blinding artificial light flooding into the home from the outside world. The true state of the home, however, was in the one bedroom just a few feet away from the kitchen. The small area was separated by a colorful blanket, one side belonging to Vincent and Lel and the other belonging to their daughter and two other children. It seemed cramped, yes, but Lel and Vincent's side was covered in Lottie's drawings and their own pictures of the loving relationship. The one thing that did seem out of place, however, was the clean, red-haired doctor sitting placidly on the bed, talking to Vincent in fluent Basic._

_"Nadya, please go play with the Carsons," Lel muttered, letting the girl's tiny feet plop onto the wood floor._

_"But, Da, I wanted to eat dinner with-"  
_

_"Do as your father says," Vincent commanded, switching to Lower Coruscanti._

_"Yes, Papa," Nadya said humbly, running downstairs._

_" **What do you want?** " Lel said, switching to his gruff Basic._

_" **I come with a warning,** " Todd said, standing up. " **You are all in danger.** "_

_" **What do you mean?** " Lel looked to Vincent for an explanation._

_" **Allow me to speak in Lower,** " Vincent said, standing up. Todd nodding, gesturing to Lel with his hand._

_Vincent switched to Lel's native tongue. "The Black Sun is looking for Lolli."_

_"Well, they don't know she's here." Lel clapped his hands at his sides. "She is in no danger yet."_

_"No, but Todd will have to leave her until the time is right. We may have her for more than eighteen years."_

_"Good, she is our daughter," Lel said with a finality to his voice._

_"And I agree, but there is a problem." Vincent sighed heavily, taking Lel's hand. "The Empire is looking for her too."_

_"What? How do they know about her?"  
_

_"Just rumors. We're hoping that if we wait long enough, they'll float over as just that, rumors. They don't even know she is a girl. But for now, Todd has to leave."_

_Lel looked at Todd, who nodded sadly. " **I can keep paying for some of her support, if you want. I just can't visit.** "_

_" **I've told you, we do not need any charity,** " Vincent insisted. " **We knew the dangers of taking her in the first place.** "_

_" **I'm at least going to have some people watch you guys. Make sure of everything. I'll still be in Coruscant, and I have this assassin, Eagle Eye, who's been working with me without her knowledge. If anything goes sour, she'll know.** "_

_" **Thank you,** " Vincent nodded.  **  
**_

_Lel gestured to the apartment below them, where the pipes and fiddles and banging drums of traditional Lower music was playing. **"** **I believe the Carsons are having a...party, yes. Would you join us?** "  
_

_" **I suppose I can, for a little while,** " Todd said, giving a half-smile. " **Down this way?** "_

_Lel and Vincent nodded, hiding a smile at their synchronisity._

_"He's a bit posh, isn't he?" Lel snorted, turning to his husband._

_"A bit?" Vincent looked incredulously at him. "Yeah, and you're a bit intimidating."_

_"I am not intimidating!" Lel scoffed at him. "Only to posh bastards like him."_

_Vincent laughed, putting an arm around Lel affectionately. "Let's go join the party, shall we?"_

_The Carsons' apartment was filled, not only with the couple, but their seven children and all of their friends and all of the couples' friends. In fact, at least half of Horrificus was there. The band played lively music, and ale and cigarras were passed around. Even Nadya and some of the kids took sips of the ale._

_" **Would you like to know how to dance?** " Vincent said, turning to Todd, who looked utterly confused. " **It's not hard.** "_

_" **Um, sure,** " Todd said. " **Can I get an ale?** "_

_"Pias! Hit me with an ale, will you?" One of the musicians tossed him a cold ale, which Vince handed to Todd. " **Now, we have to get up on the table.** "_

_" **What? Isn't that reserved for, um...** "_

_" **Come on. Here, look.** " Vincent motioned toward his daughter and his husband, who were currently dancing together. " **Lel! Nadya! Come here and dance with Papa.** "_

_The two readily joined him on the table, Nadya grinning at the three men._

_"Who are you?" she asked, her precocious voice spitting the words harshly. Vincent laughed, putting his arm around Nadya._

_"Lolli, ask him in Basic."_

_"' **Oo are ya?** " she spat out._

_" **Todd. What's your name?** "  
_

_" **Nadya Dorchester. Me das name me Lolli,** " she said, almost as if rehearsed._

_"They say you're a good dancer, too."_

_"Now, you have to learn." Vincent took Nadya's hand and Todd's, as Lel took the other. "Now, you pick up your right foot, like that-there you go! And then shuffle with the left. And then reverse, pick up the left and-you're a natural!"  
_

_"This isn't as hard as it seems."_

_"Just wait, it'll get faster."_

_The music picked up speed, the fiddles wild and the harmonies dissonant, but the dance lively and the laughs hearty and the missteps frequent, but even the air seemed to have an electricity in it as Todd watched his half-sister laugh and dance with him and her two parents, realizing that however poor, she would have a better childhood than he ever could. Yes, she was better off without him. He supposed a lot of people were._


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: knives, blood, gore. This is the first "action scene" and therefore has some violence.

"Do you dare me to hack through the Empire's firewall?" Jax Collins looked at Luke through his thick-rimmed glasses, hiding behind a large holocomputer.

The group had landed at the hotel and had almost immediately ran to some party that Pazima had confidently claimed as "the best party this side of Corellia." Luke had woke up the next morning practically unscathed, but the others seemed to be experts at curing hangovers. They had recieved work assignments, save for Jax and Luke, who got a free pass to hang out at their hotel room while the others worked.

"Aren't we technically supposed to be tracking Corda?" Luke asked absentmindedly, looking up from the book he was reading on his datapad.

"Yeah, and you just look like the epitome of hard work, Skywalker." Jax raised his thick black eyebrows and returned to the holocomputer. "I'm pretty sure Corda has had his first rum and soda of the day, so there you go. Wow, he's worse than the sisters when it comes to day drinking."

"Has he started working on the patients yet?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that Lottie couldn't really plant those cameras, you know? He didn't exactly need a maid to clean up bodies, although Lottie does have a knack in that area."

Luke snorted, walking over to Jax and peering over his shoulder. "Alright, let's see what we can find. Do you think they have a file on me yet?"

"Let's find out," Jax muttered, going through a series of commands and screens like an expert. "Alright, Luke Skywalker." He typed Luke's name into a command bar. "Oh! Nice! Let's see what they got on you."

Luke looked as Jax pulled up a file with his name and his Rebellion identification picture.

"How'd they even find that?"

"Oh please, they have access to most of our basic files. Well, your involvement in the Death Star battle isn't there. They list you as a 'low-level threat." Jax snorted. "I doubt Vader's even glanced at this. If he's still alive, of course."

"Wow, tell me like it really is, Jax." Luke smiled at Jax as he continued into the Empire's database.

"Alright, what else do you want to look up? Weapons codes?"

"Do you have a file?" Luke asked.

"Oh please," Jax scoffed, tossing his curly hair. "I used to  _work_ for them."

"No way," Luke backed up, looking at Jax incredulously. "You did not."

"I did. And then they fired me because I turned all of their anti-gay propaganda into pride stuff without their knowledge. I did it for a good five months."

"Wow. I did not know that."

"Yeah, see, you don't have to wear a leather catsuit to be a badass." Jax pulled up another file. "Oh, they're upset that we've evacuated Yavin. Hmm, well, sucks to suck." They both turned as the door abruptly opened to Lottie and Pazima.

"Well, about time," Jax muttered. "Paz, you're not even supposed to be working."

"We weren't," Paz explained, dropping her bag off on a lounge chair. "We were at a tattoo parlor."

"Oh, come on," Jax said. "And you didn't invite me?"

"What would you have gotten? You both would have the lamest tattoos, and don't even deny it, Skywalker, I see the denial in your face."

"Well, what did you get anyways?" Luke asked, crossing his arms.

"Lottie, show 'em."

"Hold on!" the Coruscanti called from the bathroom. "I'm changing so I don't flash everyone."

"She can't wear a bra for a week," Paz explained.

"It's okay, I've seen them," Jax muttered, turning to Luke. "Not that impressive."

"I heard that!" Lottie yelled from the bathroom, as Jax snickered. She emerged in her sleep clothes. "You know, I consider that dancer abuse."

"Oh, whatever. What did you get? Something badass?" Jax put the holocomputer down to stand up.

"Oh, please. I don't need a badass tattoo, I  _am_ badass."

"Shut up and show us!"

Lottie lifted the side of her shirt to reveal the plastic covering over a large tattoo of a ballet dancer on the side of her torso, done in multiple colors and looking as if it was painted on her body, save for the reddish marks on where the needle scraped her skin.

"The red stuf'll fade," Lottie murmured, tracing it lightly with her finger. "But isn't it pretty?"

"Very classy," Jax said, nodding approvingly. "I thought you two would have gotten a tramp stamp or something."

"I'm pretty sure that's slut-shaming, which is really rich from you, Jax," Paz said, raising an eyebrow as she unlaced her sneakers.

"Oh, come on!" Jax flopped on Paz's chair as the whole group laughed, including Luke. "Listen, just because the guys can't resist this body-" Paz shook with laughter as Jax posed provocatively, nearly on top of her.

"I don't know, look at Luke's face," Lottie pointed out, stepping toward him. "He looks like he just saw someone get maced."

Suddenly, the entire group sombered as a high-pitched screeching noise erupted from Jax's holoscreen. 

"What the hell is that?" Paz asked, as Jax rushed to pick it up.

"I don't know," he muttered, closing commands and going to their livestream of Corda's apartment. "Guys," he said, looking at them with disgust. "One of the patients found our cameras."

The entire group clamored to find a screaming Twi'lek woman, bound and gagged, screaming in her native language.

Lottie cursed, saying something no one understood, but that no one really noticed. " _Cacde!_ Guys, we're made," she yelled, running into her room.

"Yeah, looks like this mission is gonna be a lot shorter than three weeks," Jax deadpanned. "Paz, comm Wedge and then get to that building he talked about, the one across from the street. And get in uniform, what the hell are you still doing here?"

"Comming Wedge," she muttered. "We have all the duffel bags, right?"

"Yeah, we should," Jax put the holoscreen down and dragged Luke to their room, shoving him a green duffel bag. "Luke, in here are all the weapons you need. Unzip it and then press your hand into the brown fabric and it should open."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm shutting off my access to the cameras," Jax called from the other room. "You and I are gonna get to the garage and steal someone's speeder and get the girls out once they're done."

"How will we know?" Luke asked, marveling at the greenish bag that opened with a plethora of blasters, grabbing the pistol.

"Trust me, we'll know. Wedge is starting up the Prophet as we speak," Jax slapped a backpack over his shoulder as he unfolded a crossbow.

"A crossbow?" Luke glanced at Jax skeptically.

"I was a farmboy, I thought you of all people would understand." He moved on as he quickly began briefing Luke. "You're gonna wanna conceal that, the holster should be to the right of the rifle. Now, here is our personal comm frequency, attach that to your ear." Jax handed him a small device that was shaped somewhat like a bean. "You can hear everything the girls say and they'll be able to hear everything you say. We all have code names, obviously. Lottie is Kit, Paz is Vixen, Wedge is Alpha, and I'm Malestrom. Got it?"

"Why is yours so cool?" Luke whined.

"Cause it was my hacker name. Yours is Sundance, by the way. Now take the wire and-yeah, good. I'll be back in second."

Jax ran into the living room, and Luke followed blindly into the wildness of what seemed like an army preparing for battle. Lottie was half-outfitted in some sort of black jumpsuit, her hair pulled into a tight ponytail. She had holsters full of blasters, knives, and at her back, two gleaming swords in a deadly cross.

"Alright Lottie, I need you to test you comm," Jax said, pulling up an audio screen on his holocomputer.

"Kit testing, Kit reporting in, lalala," Lottie began singing, as Jax gave her a frantic thumbs up. "Do I look good even with the plastic?" Lottie turned, frantically glancing at her left side.

"I don't fucking know, I'm gay and therefore have no attraction to your skinny, ratty ass. Go get in the vent on the left side of the building. Corda is on the 20th floor."

"Got it. Break a leg, everyone," she said, clapping Luke on the back as she zipped up the jumpsuit, completely obscuring her face. The only part of her that was visible was the long ponytail of red hair.

"Luke, I need you to test, please," Jax said.

"Lu-uh, Sundance testing comm, what am I supposed to-"

"Good. Paz?"

"What is the point of codenames if you start this off by saying our real names?" said a very pissed-off Xuhiri seemingly in Luke's ear.

"Alright, fine.  _Grandpa?_ "

"I'm still fucking pissed that my codename is Grandpa. The Prophet is warming up. Get going, boys."

Jax shut down the holocomputer as he turned to Luke. "Alright, to the garage. Put this in my backpack for me?" Luke placed the holocomputer in Jax's backpack as he ran around the apartment, getting duffel bags. "We're gonna have to get a speeder with a trunk, we have to carry all of these. I synched the floorplan of the hotel in this datapad," Jax explained, pulling it out as Luke carried three of the duffels. "All of the comms have trackers, so I know where everyone is, see?" Jax hit the button for the elevator to the garage floor. "You got everything?"

"Yeah," Luke muttered, furrowing his brow. "I feel like your guys' pack-rat."

"Oh boo hoo," came Paz's voice. "I feel more bad that you're stuck listening to Malestrom rant about how great he is."

"Ha, ha," Jax said sarcastically. "C'mon, let's find you a speeder."

Wedge's voice interrupted them, as Luke and Jax ran to find a speeder in the garage. "Alright, Kit, you have two guards at the entrance, take them out first. They're also huge, so make of that what you will."

"Got it."

"If I have a shot on Corda, do I take it?" Paz interrupted the stream of commands.

"Fucking take it, he's an asshole. Malestrom, Sundance, you guys are going to want to be by the hotel at the most minimal time possible. In fact, park your speeder in the outside garage and wait for my command to get Kit. Vixen is reporting right to me."

"Got it," Luke stated, matching Lottie's affirmative tone, as Jax excitedly pointed to the perfect speeder. "We'll be in a speeder with a blue stripe across the body."

"Okay," Lottie said. "I have visual on the two guards."

"Alright, Kit, go in."

"Hey, I need you to transfer all of Corda's files to me," Jax said, as Luke drove the speeder to the main entrance of the hotel. "Do you know how to do that?"

Jax's question was met by a series of grunts, and a metal  _shink_ as if a sword had been sheathed.

"Of course I fucking do, I'm not an idiot," Lottie said.

"There was a hair flip before that," Jax muttered to Luke.

"Hey, you used the knives I made!" Paz said excitedly.

"What knives?" Luke asked.

"They attatch to her wrist, and if she flicks them, they pop out. Makes for really silent kills which I guarantee she used on those guards. We're debating calling them the Handjob or Jazz Hands," Jax explained.

"Corda is out," Paz declared. "Grandpa, I'm coming to you. What's your location?"

"The field at the end of forty-first. Get yourself some sort of speeder bike to get here, it's a bit of a hike on foot."

"Affirmative."

"Kit, I got the files," Jax said, thumbing through commands on his datapad.

"Sundance, Malestrom, we have a straggler," Lottie said, a worried tone in her voice. "Can you-"

"I got him," Paz said, cutting her off.

"Alright, you boys are gonna want to fly over to the west side of the building. Kit, what's your location?"

"I'm on the roof," Lottie said.

"What? Why the hell are you-"

"Don't ask. Sundance, I need you to fly up as high as you possibly can, got it?"

"Okay," Luke said into the comm. "What are you doing?"

"Like I said, we got stragglers. Jax, get weapons ready."

When Luke reached the west side, he looked up and saw Lottie as a black speck tying a cord around a tank on the roof. He pressed the "ascend" button and the speeder flew up, but stopped around the fifteenth floor.

"I can't go all the way," Luke said.

"I know." Lottie gave him a thumbs up. "Weapons ready?"

"Yup," Jax said, readying his crossbow.

"Alright, get ready to go," Lottie commanded. Luke looked on as Lottie jumped from the top of the roof, the black cord tied around her waist flying like a ribbon from the back. She ran down the side of the building as at least for guards followed her on some sort of speederbike that conformed to different gravity levels. Lottie twisted to face them, and the world seemed to fall in slow-motion as she reached behind her back and unclipped the cord, reached for the blasters at her thighs, and took out two of the guards as Jax shot two arrows straight in the foreheads of the bike riders with a deadly accuracy. Luke veered the speeder to the right and caught her falling form with the backseat of the open speeder, Lottie landing with a loud thump and a groan.

"Nice work," the girl muttered, rubbing at her back as she clamored inbetween the two men. "Now fucking fly, there's two bogeys that are gonna be after us."

"Got it," Luke said. "Ja-Malestrom, can you get me to the Prophet."

"Yeah, hang a left here," Jax commanded, looking at his datapad as Lottie began cleaning her blades, blood spilling into the middle of the speeder.

"I got something else too. I put it in this bag here," Lottie tossed Jax some sort of Imperial-issue backpack. "It's of special interest."

"Luke, take a right," Jax said."

"Fuck," Lottie cursed heavily. "Remember those bogeys?"

"You're kidding me. Do you want me to try to lose them?" Luke asked.

"I don't know, their speeders are better than this clunker," Lottie muttered. "Wait for them to get close, I can take them out. But still, fly recklessly.

"Luke, stopli-"

"You said fly recklessly," Luke said, smirking as he ran the light.

"Dammit, they had the same idea," Lottie murmured, as the two were not losing any traction. She carefully walked out onto the tail end of the speeder, balancing almost effortlessly.

Suddenly, the speeder shook violently as a blast hit the tail end.

"Lottie, you alright?" Luke asked, seeing her nearly dangling from the thin end of the speeder.

"It's-fucking-Kit!" she grunted, getting in an animalistic perch at the end of the speeder. Although Luke couldn't see her eyes, he could see she made some sort of contact with Luke's clear blue ones, and he understood, nodding once.

He gave a hairpin turn to the right, sending Lottie flying into the first speeder. Lottie's sword sheathed itself into his neck almost instantly, as the man fell to the street below. The next bogey crashed into Lottie, trying to send her in the same direction. Lottie, however, had a nearly inhuman balance, and jumped onto the back of his speeder. This one wasn't going down without a fight, however, and punched Lottie square in the face as soon as she arrived. Lottie didn't go down without a fight, using gymnastics to fight him on the moving speeder. Out of nowhere, though, the man pulled out a knife, and stabbed Lottie in her right side.

"Ach!" she yelled, doubling over. Jax grabbed Luke's hands on the wheel, giving him a look that said, "She's got this."

Lottie got back up and ran to the end of the speeder. The man seemed to think she was going to jump, but Lottie ran with a blinding speed, wrapping her legs around his neck and taking out a knife, cutting him from the end of his lung to the top of his collarbone, blood splattering on the black of her jumpsuit. As he fell, Lottie stepped back into the speeder.

"Are you alright?" Jax and Luke chorused, as she clutched her side.

"They didn't get the tattoo," Lottie said, between pants. "I'll be alright, just get us to the Prophet and I can patch myself up."

"You got it." Luke took off with a certain confidence, but then the world seemed to spin, his hearing was replaced with a high-pitched _whirr_ , and he felt like he was unconscious-no,  _he_ wasn't unconscious-

"Paz is hurt," Luke declared.

"How do you know?" Lottie asked, her tone instantly grim.

"I just don't. Jax, what is the location?"

"Uh, she hasn't moved in the last-Thirty-third and Main," Jax said, his eyes big.

"Guys, what's going on? I've lost most contact," Wedge said, his voice hazy through the comlink.

"The Foxes are both hurt," Jax said. "We'll be coming to the Prophet soon."

Luke flew to the Paz's location, following Jax's directions and ignoring certain traffic laws. Luke found the building, partially destroyed in a recent rubble.

"Do you have visual on Paz?" Wedge asked, his voice frantic.

"I see her!" Lottie exclaimed, pointing at a bloodied woman in black armor.

"I don't think Lottie can carry her," Jax said, giving Luke a worried look.

"If I park for a moment, we probably can together," Luke said. "Lottie, we'll be right back."

"No shit," she grunted, taking a look at her stab wound.

Jax and Luke hopped out of the speeder, stepping through the rubble to find Pazima's limp form.

"On three," Luke commanded. "One, two, three!"

The two men grunted as they picked up Paz, not particularly heavy-looking normally, but the armor at least added fifty pounds. They placed her in the back couch of the speeder, her beautiful face covered in blood and dirt and her delicate hands limp. Lottie frantically traced her sister's face, opening her mouth to listen for breathing and feeling her heartbeat.

"She's breathing. She has a pulse," she observed. "Get us to the Prophet."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for Marduous 5 and the beach party is from Limelight's amazing The Not Quite Love Letters on fanfiction.net. All credit for that idea goes to her.

Luke knocked on the door of the Prophet's med bay, muffled dance music and laughter growing louder. Pazima and Lottie were sharing a cot, Lottie stitching the stab wound on her right side as Paz lay on the bed, singing along to the music.

"Hey guys," he said cheerfully. "I just wanted to check in and tell you we'll be docking at base in about thirty minutes."

"Thanks," Lottie said, humming along to the music. 

"You seem cheerful," Luke observed.

"Yeah, well, the mission was a success. Plus, look at how gnarly this scar will be this time!"

"Good flying, by the way," Paz said, shifting so she could face Luke. "Lottie told me all about it."

"Oh, uh, thanks," Luke muttered, slightly pink. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened back there?"

Paz shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I don't really know. Corda's guys were talking about some warehouse, so I thought to check it out, might be some valuable information, but then I walked right into a trap." She heaved a great sigh. "Oh well. At least they didn't kill me, right?" She nudged Lottie's thigh as Lottie chuckled an affirmative, tying off the stitch with her teeth.

"Hey, I think I gotta go check on some stuff with Jax on the bridge. I'll be back. You doing okay?" She turned to her sister.

"Yeah, I'll be alright," Paz said, giving Lottie a half-smile. Lottie clapped Luke on the shoulder as she walked through the automatic doors.

"Well, thanks, I guess," Paz began, grunting as she sat up slowly. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess, I suppose," Luke said nonchalantly.

"Was it the Force?" the woman asked bluntly, taking Luke off-guard. "First the Death Star, now this.."

"I don't know," Luke answered, turning a bit pink. "We would have found you anyways-"

"Given three more minutes I would have been dead," Paz stated with a finality. "The building totally collapsed after that. If you hadn't came when you did, then I would have died. So thank you, Luke, I guess I owe you one."

Luke chuckled. "Hopefully that'll never have to be repaid."

"Yeah, well," Paz shrugged. "I never like to be in anyone's debt."

"You're not in mine. I didn't do it so you could owe me. " Luke edged toward the door. "I did it 'cause you're my friend."

Paz's smile became childlike. "You know, I don't know many men who are content to be just my friend." She laughed, but it was the laugh of an old woman, remembering some pain in her past. "Basic human decency is hard to come by, Skywalker. You're one of the few humans I've ever known who has it."

Luke nodded. "See you in thirty, Paz."

"See ya," she said, twisting onto the pillows.

Luke shut the door behind him as he walked to the cockpit to start the landing procedure, Paz's words bouncing back and forth in his mind.

* * *

 

"Greenies! Form up!"

Wedge strode confidently into the smallest of the Rebellion's new briefing rooms on Marduous 5, their tropical new home, Luke following closely behind. Within minutes of the landing feet of the Prophet touching down on the surface, Luke and Wedge were promoted to the rank of Commander, and hastily told they had command of their own X-Wing squadron. Seconds after that, they had recruited Pazima as their primary mechanic, Jax as their secondary mechanic, droid programmer, and occasional hacker, and Lottie as the primary medic. Over the course of two days, the two of them had screened at least thirty new recruits, almost all of them joining the Rebellion after the destruction of the Death Star. Now, finally, they had called the first real meeting of their final decisions for the squad. Everyone was there, including Lottie, Paz, and Jax, who were sipping some sort of presumably alcoholic blue drink from ostentatiously decorated cups, and squandering over something on Jax's datapad.

Luke stood in front of the room, in command of all of the green recruits, standing tall in their freshly pressed orange jumpsuits. Luke took a deep breath and began speaking, adopting Wedge's confident tone.

"Welcome. Each and every one of you has now earned your place in Rogue Squadron." Luke nearly laughed at the conversation that had come up with the name last night ("It's gotta be like, y'know, Rebels, but cooler," were the quotable words of one Jax Collins) but then continued speaking. "Wedge and I have your bunk assignments here. Generally, you should all be in Barracks B, with us, unless there's some sort of mistake. But first, I'd please like to introduce you all to some of our non-pilot members. I should mention they should be treated with the same respect as any officer, such as Wedge and myself." Luke motioned the group to come forward.

"Who wants to start?" Lottie whispered, looking a little embarrassed.

Pazima stepped forward, ever poised ever with the rather ridiculous drink in her hand. "So my name is Pazima Reynard, I'm your guys' primary mechanic, so you got a problem with your ship you can't fix, you come to me." She stepped back, giving Jax a glance.

"Oh, yeah, um, I'm Jax Collins, I'm also a mechanic, but I also do a lot of holo and droid stuff, so that's what I'm here for, and, Lottie?" He turned to the last member.

"Oh shit!" she proclaimed, making the recruits hide giggles, a few tracing their own face to match Lottie's grotesque scars. Luke noticed Lottie almost shrink back, her eyes staring at the floor. "Um, sorry about that Luke, and Wedge. I'm Lottie," she chuckled awkwardly, "Lottie Reynard and I'm the medic and as you can tell I'm really shit-sorry Luke, bad-at public speaking so, that's that. Come to me if you, like, break your leg, or die, or...something. And sorry about the, um, face." Lottie finished by motioning toward the scar on the left side of her face as Wedge stepped forward.

"Any questions for these guys?" Wedge pointed his thumb toward the three.

"Um, yeah," A sandy-haired man raised his hand. "Are you guys sisters?" He drew a line between Lottie and Pazima, as the two grinned at each other.

"What's your name?" Lottie asked, taking a step towards him, even her short stature making her intimidating.

"Hobbie Klivian." the man stated.

"Yeah, alright, you ever heard of the fundamental theory of adoption?" Lottie snickered and turned back to her.

"Where do we get cups like that?" a black haired man asked, calling out to Lottie.

"My grandmother's, they're a fucking heirloom," she said impassively as she bit on the straw, causing the entire group to break out in raucous laughter.

"Come to us with bunk assignments!" Wedge called out, the meeting obviously called to an end. "Oh and everyone sign up for the early beach cleanup crew in two weeks, I think! Don't ask why, it's an order!"

* * *

" _How_ did you get a bar out here?" Hobbie Kilivan sat across from Lottie, who was bartending at a cabana outside. With a lot of luck, the majority of Rogue Squadron completed their first mission-turning a beach into the hopping spot for an illegal beach party, complete with cabana bar and surfing equipment. The party had been going on almost all afternoon, and was showing no signs of stopping even as the sky approached the indigo night.

"I'm not quite sure," Lottie replied, handing him a rum mixture. "I think it had something to do with Jax bribing one of the guards with sexual favors."

"Lottie!" Luke ran up to the bar breathlessly, sitting at the open seat. "Have you  _ever_ seen so much water?!"

She chuckled. "Surprisingly, I have."

"Hey, Hobbie. How are you?"

"Good, boss. Hey, Lottie, thanks for the drink." He handed her a few credits and went off to pester Kandra, one of the new female members of the Rogue Squadron, leaving Luke alone at the bar.

"Now's the part where you ask me how a girl like you ended up workin' at a place like this," Lottie started, giving Luke a sly smile.

"Yeah, you're kidding yourself, Reynard." Luke glanced towards the direction of the partygoers. "Look at Han and Leia." The two were drunkenly dancing on the shore of the beach.

"How scenic," Lottie muttered, handing Luke a orange-looking drink.

"What's this?" He inspected the glass.

"It's called a Tatooine Sunburn. Cheers." She clinked his glass as she took a shot of straight vodka. 

"So I'm guessing your wrapping up for the night?" Luke asked, motioning towards Lottie's empty shot glass.

"They can get their own drinks," Lottie said, sitting next to Luke on the bar stool. "I bought this nice swimsuit, and I can _finally_ get water on this tattoo." She threw her head back. "You know, it's times like this when I genuinely forget we're in a war."

Luke nodded, and finished his drink. "Wanna go swimming?" he asked.

"You can't swim," Lottie declared.

"Oh, the water's barely waist-deep," he pleaded. "Please? Because my childhood was so water-deprived?"

Lottie rolled her eyes and allowed Luke to pull her off of the bar stool, the two running to the water's edge.

"Hey!" Paz called the two as they approached the water. "It's the Jedi and the Whore!"

"You _told_ her about that?" Lottie scoffed, looking at Luke incredulously.

"Maybe, a little. Come on!" He splashed water on her face, making her mascara run down.

"Oh, it is  _on."_ Lottie ran at him with a barrage of water, the both of them laughing at the water splashing onto them. Paz noticed, and nodded at Luke. The two ganged up on Lottie, causing Lottie to fall headfirst into the water.

Paz and Luke triumphantly high fived, as Jax and Wedge joined them.

"Did someone say, 'everyone attack Lottie with water?'" Wedge and Jax joined in on the fun.

"I hate you all. I'm going to kill you!" Lottie said, holding her hands up.

"Well, is it time?" Luke asked, turning to the other four.

"Time for what?" Lottie put her hands on her hips, as the four relented from their attacks.

Jax held his hand up, glancing at the chrono at his wrist. "In five, four, three, two, one-"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Paz attacked Lottie with a hug, as Jax, Wedge, and finally Luke joined in.

"Aww, guys!" Lottie said, Luke's arm still wrapped around her neck and hers around his waist. "That's always how I wanted to celebrate my seventeenth, getting attacked by water!"

"Well, if you say so-" Luke began the attack again, pushing more water in her direction.

"Oh no you fucking don't! I'm coming  _after you,_ Skywalker!"

 

 


	12. Interlude 4

_"Papa, I can't see." Nadya Dorchester sat carefully on the edge of the dock. The left side of her face was covered in bandages, and both of her eyes covered in a white gauze._

_"Would you like me to describe it to you?" Vincent sat next to her, not letting go of her hand._

_"Yes, Papa."_

_"We're on my parents' campground. Right across from you is a great lake, and there's a dock there, sitting right on the bay. That's where we are know, our toes just barely brushing the water.The sun is shining, so much it's like you can almost see yourself in the water. Can you hear the water rushing?"  
_

_"Yes. It sounds like someone whispering." Nadya giggled._

_"It does. Oh, here comes Da. Lel, could you describe something to our blind daughter?"_

_"Your Papa looks like a complete piece of_  cacde, mo chedaor-"

_"Lel!" Vincent hit his husband lightly on the arm as he sat next to the daughter._

_"I wish I could see the sun," Nadya whined. "Being blind sucks."_

_"Well, in a month, you'll be fine," Vincent reassured her, patting her on the back._ _"The doctors just say both eyes need to be covered, even though the sword just hit your left eye. It's for safety."_

_"But, when you get back, just wait 'till you see what we did to your room for your seventh birthday. Lots of pink."_

_"Yay!" Nadya cheered. "The best color."  
_

_"I would agree," Lel said. "You know, I think our little vacation will do you good for dancing. You'll be better than ever when you get back."_

_"I don't know," Nadya said, shrugging. "Some people said I'm gonna be uglier when they take the bandage off."_

_"Who the hell would say that?" Vincent's voice rose. "You're easily the most beautiful little girl in the circus, scar or not."_

_"I can't remember. It was one of the older dancers. But one of the ballet-only. All of the sword dancing girls said I earned my stripes."_

_"Well, they're just jealous," Lel explained. "Nadya, you know, most of the ballet girls weren't good enough for sword dancing. You do ballet and swords, do you know how rare that is?"_

_Nadya giggled. "You said I was born to dance."_

_"You were born to do a lot of things, Lolli." Vincent wrapped his arm around his daughter. "You're like a superhero. A dancing superhero."_

_"A dancing superhero?" Nadya laughed. "How am I a superhero?"  
_

_"We'll tell you more about it when you're a little older, but since you're seven, did you know that you were literally born to save lives?"_

_"Really?" Nadya perked. "Like being in the med tent?"_

_"A little bit. You can save people like Da does when he protects camp."_

_"So I shoot people?"_

_Lel laughed. "That's the idea. But not yet. And you can't tell anyone, Lolli, do you understand? It's our secret."_

_"Got it," Nadya placed her hands on her hips._

_"And you just remember that when those girls are mean to you,"  Lel said. "You're better than them. You were born better."_

_"I was born better," Nadya repeated._

* * *

_Later that night, as Nadya was tucked into bed, Vincent turned to Lel, who was checking his datapad in the moonlight as they both lay in the double bed._

_"I don't want to give her up," he whispered, taking Lel's hand._

_The older man turned to his husband. "I know, love. I know. Neither do I."_

_"She's too sweet to be this killer Todd wants her to be." Vincent's eyes were large, tears pooling in them._

_"She will do it because she has to. Remember, we're giving her that choice."_

_"I know but..." He sighed heavily. "You know the other day she told me the only thing she wants to be is a mum? A dancer and then a mum."_

_Lel shook his head. "Maybe she will meet someone once she's older. I do not know the rules of the Foxes, but surely children cannot be outlawed."_

_"I'm sure it's discouraged." Vincent flopped against his pillow. "I just don't want our daughter to grow up to be a murderer."_

_"She won't be, and you know that. The Foxes do good work. They take out the Empire, and neither you or I certainly want them in power any longer."_

_Vincent nodded. "I know, Lel. I just want what's best for her, and I'm not quite sure if that's the Fox anymore."_

_"Neither am I," Lel whispered. "But I think she is going to be able to make that decision when she's able, don't you? She's a smart girl."_

_"She is. And I don't like that people are bullying her."_

_"They'll do that anyways. The sword dancers will be nice, all of them have scars like that."_

_"I suppose."_

_"Come here." Lel took Vincent in his arms, letting the man sob into his shoulder until both fell asleep, the light finally falling naturally into darkness._

 


	13. Chapter 13

Luke lay down on the cool, white tiled floor of the Prophet's training room, breathing deeply. He had finally finished a report on the Rogue Squadron's latest mission, which had been a complete success. He was quite happy with how the fighter pilots had come together, not just as a squadron but as friends as well. The base was slowly, perhaps unwillingly, becoming his home. Even the Prophet, at first intimidating with its long corridors and the Fox Squadron's second language of in-jokes, seemed to welcome him.

"Oh!" Luke propped himself up on his elbows to see Lottie shuffling at the door. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were in here."

"No, it's alright, come in. I was just writing a report."

"I'm assuming that's going well," Lottie said, laying down next to him.

"Ehh," Luke shrugged. "I'm not that great of a writer."

"Well, I'm assuming you don't have to be, y'know, some author or whatever to write a military report."

"Yeah," Luke chuckled. "Speaking of writing, what did you think of your birthday comic?"

"Oh, um, Luke, well, I have a confession to make," Lottie said, turning sideways toward him.

"You didn't read it." Luke's eyes fell.

"No, it's not that! It's, um, I actually can't read. Or write."

"You're kidding."

"No." Lottie shook her head, giving a little laugh. "No, I can read Lower Coruscanti just fine, but I'm practically lost on Basic."

"But what about medical reports? Don't you have to read those, and write them?"

"No, I don't have to write them, that's the med droids' job. And I have a translator on my datapad that changes it to Lower for me."

"Holy shit," Luke said under his breath.

"Oh my gods, you swore!" Lottie clapped her hands gleefully. "I'm so proud!"

"Oh, shut up."

"I suppose it would be nice to read Basic," Lottie said thoughtfully. "I always have to get Paz to read stuff for me."

"I could teach you," Luke said.

"Would you really?" Lottie sat up, hiding a grin.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind."

"Oh my gods, thank you!" Lottie took his hands, wringing them together. "I could pay you back, if you wanted."

"Oh, no, you don't need to pay me," Luke dismissed. "Hey, actually, there is something I wanted to learn," he suggested, after a pause.

"Oh yeah?" Lottie cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, um, do you think you could teach me how to swordfight?"

Lottie swung her head to one side. "I mean, sure, but why? No offense, it just seems strange."

"Well, I have this lightsaber-"

"Holy  _shit._ How did you get one of those?"

"I inherited it, I guess. Remember when I told you about Ben on Yavin?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well, he said it was my father's."

"Wait, hold on. Your father was a Jedi?"

"Yeah, he was. I guess, I thought he was a navigator on a spicefreighter for the majority of my life."

"Luke...he would happen to be  _Anakin_ Skywalker, would he?" Lottie wrapped her arms around her knees, a hopeful beam forming on her face.

"Yeah, he would be."

"Luke,  _holy shit._ We used to tell stories about him all the time!" Lottie practically jumped up, pacing back and forth on the floor.

"Wait, really?" Luke shot up too. "What did you know?"

"I had heard he saved all of the children at the Jedi Palace, got them out on starships. Of course, no one quite knows what happened to them, but a few of them actually ended up at the circus. They would never talk about it, but no one really talks about that sort of stuff." Lottie shook her head, letting out a shaky laugh. "One of my friends practically worshiped him. He thought he saw his ghost once."

"Ben said that Darth Vader killed him."

"I had heard that too. Luke, this is so exciting!" Lottie grabbed his shoulders, jumping up and down. "I get to teach a _Jedi_ how to swordfight!"

"Oh, I'm not a Jedi," Luke laughed, shaking his head. "I tried to train with that lightsaber with Artoo, and I think even he laughed at me."

"Oh,  _impocuma._ I was absolutely shit at sword dancing at the beginning, I mean, I didn't give myself scars for cosmetic purposes, y'know?"

Luke snorted, cocking his head to one side. "Lottie, this is totally awesome."

"I know. Alright, I'll teach you how to swordfight, but you have to let me play with it first." Lottie fell on her knees, mock-begging. "Please! I've always wanted to know how they worked."

"Alright, alright! I'll let you fight with it!"

Lottie hopped up, a bright smile on her face. "Great! Now get out!"

"What?" Luke asked skeptically.

"I was gonna practice ballet, I didn't just wear these shoes for show." Lottie lifted up her leg to show off her battered pink ballet shoes, worn down to the blunt nub. "I don't like people to watch while I practice."

"But isn't that the whole point of-" Lottie shoved him toward the door, cutting off his sentence.

"I can still take it back!" she said, waving him goodbye.

* * *

 A few days later, Luke had joined Lottie, both of them sitting cross-legged on her bunk, shoulders side by side as the datapad sat on Lottie's lap.

"Alright, now read me that sentence-"

"The cat hops through the-" Lottie looked at Luke quizzically.

"Red," he supplied patiently.

"Red fence."

"Very good," Luke said.

"Gods, I feel like a child," Lottie huffed, throwing her head back.

"Hey," Jax opened the door as both peered over the edge of her top bunk. "You two get sexiled too?"

"Sexiled?" Luke turned to Lottie for an explanation.

"Paz and Wedge are having their 'special time'," she explained, putting the last two words in air quotes. "Come on up, Jax."

"No thanks, I don't want to know if there are any bodily fluids up there, ya feel?" Jax climbed up to his own top bunk.

Lottie rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Luke was teaching me to read."

"Oh, finally. You know, I would have to read out signs for her?"

"Not my fault I had a shitty education."

"Well, I'm actually not here on just a social call, even though this is technically our room." Jax handed Lottie his datapad, Lottie stretching in the gap between the two bunks. "I translated all of the files you brought back from the Corda mission to digital. I checked them through every database I knew, but none of them were Horrificus. I just thought I would have you take a look before I, y'know, file them away."

"Thanks," Lottie said absentmindedly. "No-none of these look Horrificus, so far." She continued scrolling through the files, silent until she reached a file with a picture of a black-haired man, with an almost comical looking face. "Him," Lottie murmured, turning the datapad to Jax. "Can you find his location?"

"He's Horrificus?" Jax asked, taking the datapad from her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Lottie said, visibly shaken as she handed Luke's datapad back to him at a glacial pace, looking at an invisible spot on the floor. "Have you found him?"

"Give me a second!" Jax protested. "Okay, he's coming up absolutely nowhere, but he definitely escaped Corda somehow. I can track his facial recognition though, see if he pops up anywhere."

"Thank you," Lottie said, her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm sorry, I need to step out for a smoke," Lottie murmured, her hands shaking as she stepped down the ladder's rungs. She exited in a hurried silence, grabbing her box of cigarras with desperation.

Luke looked at Jax, his worry evident on his face. "Do you think she's alright?"

"No," Jax said, not looking up from his datapad. "She'll be fine though, smoking always makes her feel better."

"Shouldn't one of us at least go check on her?"

Jax shrugged. "Her business is her business. I don't get involved."

Luke huffed at Jax's indifference. "Well, I'm gonna go out there-"

"Luke." Jax finally looked up, his brown eyes almost boring into him. "Let her be. You know how few people survived that, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Luke fell back against the cold wall. "But she's my  _friend._ "

"She's mine too," Jax said defensively. "Trust me, all she'll do is bite back at you if you go and see her like this. She just needs some time alone, alright?"

"Alright," Luke finished defeatedly. "Do you have any idea who that man is?"

Jax shook his head. "Says here he's a Kei Mills, from Lothal. That could always be an alias though."

"I wonder who he was," Luke said. "I think she knew him."

"So do I." Jax looked up at Luke. "She'll tell us when she's ready."

Luke huffed, falling against Lottie's pink, frilly pillow. "I know."


	14. Chapter 14

"You need to start being more careful," Lottie scolded, stitching the wound on Luke's left arm as he sat placidly in the med bay. "Soon you'll end up looking like me."

Luke shook his head. "I don't think I'll be that lucky. I don't even know how this happened, I think I just got a little cooked on the left wing."

Lottie giggled. "You sound like a bird."

"I meant the wing of my ship."

"You know, I might not be able to read, but I'm not completely stupid," Lottie retorted, walking over to the sink to clean out the long needle with alcohol. "You should come to our room tonight, I feel like haven't seen you in forever."

"I know, I'm sorry. Rogue Squadron, and Han and Leia, and...well, y'know." Luke shrugged. "When was the last time we actually saw each other? And twenty seconds doesn't count. Neither does lessons."

Lottie snickered. "I think it was the time you fell asleep in my bunk after teaching me how to read something about a red cat. I still have those pictures, by the way."

"Great," Luke grunted, rubbing his arm. "Hey, did Jax ever find out about that guy?"

Lottie instantly stopped screwing on the bottle from the rubbing alcohol, but then quickly resumed, as if registering that the pause was unnatural. "No, I don't think so." She washed her hands, not turning to Luke. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know." Luke leaned to try to catch a glimpse of her face, half-hidden by her hair. "Just wondering."

"You should get going," she murmured, still refusing to look at him. "You should probably get going, I'm sure someone needs you for something." The words, Luke knew, was Lottie speak for, "Get the hell out, before I fling a needle at your eye."

"See you around," he said cheerfully.

"See ya."

* * *

"What's the status on our mystery guy?" Jax asked a few hours later, as he and Luke were sitting around a table in the pilot's lounge, Jax dealing out a hand of sabacc with a cigarra affixed to his mouth.

"No dice." Luke grabbed his hand of cards. "She's really touchy about it."

"Yeah, she's been like that with me too." Jax shook his head. "Paz, you want in?"

"Sure." The woman uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, resting her hands on the table. "Who's this mystery guy?'

"I don't know," Jax mused. "This guy Lottie identified as a Horrificus survivor, but Luke and I have a theory that he's someone she knew."

"Probably. I might know him, but of course, if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"That's comforting," Jax quipped. "Hey, turn up the radio," he yelled to no one in particular. "The news is gonna be on soon."

"Hey guys!" Lottie sat down cheerfully, pulling up a chair between Paz and Luke. "What are we talking about?"

"How disgusting you are. Want in?" Paz pointed at the cards.

"Nah, I'm good. You all know I'm rubbish at sabacc. Were you really talking about how disgusting I am?"

"No, we were talking about how flat your chest is," Jax remarked, emotionless, with a snort from Paz.

"I'm sure Luke would agree that is no way to talk to a lady, Jax Thaddeus Collins." Lottie pursed her lips.

"Yeah, Jax. Honestly, you're one to talk about a flat chest."

"No he isn't. He's gotten tubby lately, he'll need a bra too." Jax stood up defensively as Lottie snickered, crossing her feet on the table.

"You wanna go, bitch?" Jax gave her a rather laughable fighting stance.

"Sure, hoe." Luke and Paz exchanged the briefest of smiles observing their two friends.

"Hey, you kooky kids, what are we doing here-"

"DON'T YOU GET INVOLVED IN THIS, ANTILLES." Jax jammed a finger in Wedge's chest as he sat down slowly, raising his hands in surrender.

"Godsdamn, just trying to get in a game. How's my main bitches?"

"Fine."

"Staring down a gay-ass motherfucker."

"What's new?" Wedge snorted, turning to Luke. "This is my favorite time of day, right here."

Luke nodded. "Honestly, this is more entertaining than any holoshow I've ever watched."

"Alright, Lottie, you know what? You're a virgin." Jax nodded silently, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

"Okay?" Lottie shook her head, laughing. "That the best you got?"

"I bet Luke's a virgin too."

"Yeah, no shit," Lottie barely choked out, as the whole table erupted in a great peal of laughter.

"Guys," Luke extended his hands, as they barely could look at him, they were laughing so hard.

"Sorry," Wedge laughed, clapping Luke on the back. "I'm sorry, I just, 'Yeah, no shit.'"

Lottie bowed, smiling smugly. "Sorry, Luke," she said, extending a hand. "I give you free reign to insult me once without me cutting your eye out with a spoon."

"Thank you, Lottie, it's reassuring that you're such a good friend."

The booming voice of the Imperial announcer suddenly caused the din of the lounge to go to a dull roar. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Tonight, on Galactic News, straight out of the heart of Galactic City, we're bringing you the biggest stories-"

"Luke Skywalker's a virgin," Lottie muttered, giggling under her breath.

"Lottie, please."

"-and we bring them to you fast! But first, we'd like to celebrate one of the most momentous victories, especially for those of us living in the Uscru Entertainment. Today, we celebrate the momentous victory over the gang operating under Circus Horrificus-"

"Let's go back to the game, shall we?" Lottie said quickly. "Deal me in, Jax."

"Yeah, sure, sure. You alright?"

She shrugged. "Not like this didn't happen last year, or the year before. Just don't feel like hearing the Empire spout its usual bullshit about things they don't know."

"I feel you, Reynard." Wedge grabbed his own hand of cards. "Got another smoke, Jax?"

"Actually, I bummed one, so no, sorry."

"That's alright-"

"You know, that's how I heard she got all of those scars." Luke turned a minuscule to hear the girls at the table whispering to themselves. "She used to work for them."

"I think she's got the tattoo too. God, I'm surprised no one is more scared of her. I mean, _I_ would be. I don't get why Jax and Commander Skywalker and Commander Antilles hang around her."

"They probably feel bad for her. I mean, I would too, with a face like that." Luke started to get up from his chair, but Lottie grabbed his arm, giving him a small shake of her head.

"Luke, they're not worth it."

"But they're saying-"

"I get that shit all the time. Just sit down, I can pick my own battles."

* * *

That night, Luke found Lottie on the steps of their small base, surrounded in her usual cloud of smoke.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she began, turning imperceptibly. "Jax and I just talk a lot of shit, we don't mean it."

"No, it's alright," Luke said, joining her on the steps. "It's pretty harmless."

"Yeah." She puffed out another small cloud. "Thank you, though."

"For what?"

"For what you were gonna do back there," she said. "You know, with the girls? That was kind of you."

"Yeah, well, I just don't like hearing people say that stuff about anyone. Especially when they don't know them."

"That's very...what's the word? Noble? Yeah, I think that's it."

Luke shrugged. "I just hate how everyone judges people just because they are different. I got a lot of that in school, I just hated it."

"It's a good thing I didn't go to school then," Lottie quipped. She then turned, resting her arm on her leg. "Luke, everyone is gonna judge me, no matter what I do. I have strange tattoos, I talk funny, I look weird."

"Yeah, but they shouldn't. They don't really know you."

Lottie smiled sadly. "I'm under the impression I'm not a very good person to know."

"Why would you say that?" Luke asked. "You know, you are one of the kindest people I know, despite what you like to tell yourself." He shook his head. "You know, I would've spent that first month on base just feeling sorry for myself, but you just made me feel like I wasn't alone. And you didn't even try, you just sat out here and smoked and acted like yourself."

Lottie turned her head, looking at the trees, and then turned to Luke again, a lopsided smile on her face. "You really think that?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you," Lottie beamed. "Thank you very much, Luke Skywalker."

"You're welcome, Charlotte Reynard."

Lottie laughed. "I'm sure you weren't just out here to shower me with compliments, though."

"No, I just had a feeling you would be out here."

"Because of the Horrificus anniversary?" Lottie put the cigarra back between her teeth, taking another hit.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it?"

Lottie exhaled deeply, the gray smoke twirling in the cool night air. "You know, it's a sad day, and I always expect to feel worse, but I don't. I just sort of feel sad about it all the time, not just today, y'know?"

"Yeah." Luke nodded. "Sometimes I feel that way about Biggs, and Ben, and my aunt and uncle. I don't think they would want me to feel sad."

"Everyone says that," Lottie remarked. "They forget it's impossible not to feel that way."

"Yeah," Luke repeated, leaning back on his palms.

"Do you ever get nightmares?" Lottie asked, turning to him unexpectedly.

"Sometimes."

"Like really,  _really_ bad ones? About...bad stuff you've done? Or your friends that...passed?"

Luke gave a hollow laugh. "You have no idea how many times I've been a worker on that Death Star at night."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright. They're just dreams. I wake up sweating and screaming and crying, but, in the end, they're just dreams."

"That happens to me all the time. Especially tonight, I never sleep well tonight. It's like reliving it all over again."

"I suppose it doesn't get better."

"No, it really doesn't." Lottie laughed heartily and unexpectedly. " _Gods_ , we're depressing."

"We're in a war, I think we're _supposed_ to be depressing."

Lottie laughed, and then stood up. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to drown my sorrows in liquor. Care to join me?"

"Yeah, what the hell? You make the best drinks anywhere."

 

 

 


	15. Interlude 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All dialogue is in Lower Coruscanti unless specified. Any Basic dialogue is bolded, specific Lower words are in plain text.

_As was the case at most sword dancing rehearsals, the "take five" was more raucous and unfocused than the actual rehearsal. Abisai Fay, one of the male dancers, was doing his best impression of one of their own singers, a bluesy, soulful deep voice that inherited its own country twang, singing into his own knife. Nadya found herself dancing with the others, using one of her swords as a fake mando violin like the others._

"Guien dumaith mo d'bebe leanbh me,

Ie troufair noua lar a hie,

ti se sios deirdrue uaitair, go brieseadh croi ostan..."

_"Alright, everybody, settle down." Tee, their instructor, clapped her hands, calling everyone to order. "So, we're going to run the opener one last time, and then our very own Nadya is getting her own preshow solo!" The older dancers clapped and cheered loudly, and Abisai even ran up to her._

_"Nice job, little one!"_

_"Thanks, Abi," she replied meekly, blushing._

_"Alright, so let's run the opener again. This time, I want just a little more energy, I know you're tired, but one more and then all of you are free to go, except Nadya of course." The dancers laughed as they gathered to the side, Tee pressing play on the speakers, the upbeat opening song blaring through speakers._

_"Hey, Tee." Vincent joined her, eating a sandwich._

_"Oh, hi Vince. I was just gonna talk to you."_

_"What about? How's she doing? I know that her eyesight hasn't really returned to its proper strength after the accident-"_

_"Oh, that doesn't matter. I'm deaf in one ear because of an accident, you don't really need much other than your swords to do this. No, I was actually going to talk to you about the opposite." Tee turned to Vince, resting a hand on his knee. "Vince, she's almost...supernaturally good. And I don't say that to most anyone. But she's eight and performing at the same level as these professionals. They started training same time as she did and they probably didn't even perform in shows until five years later."_

_"Thank you, Tee," Vincent smiled, nodding. "I'm very proud of her."_

_"So am I. I was just wondering, do you know her parentage?"_

_Vincent shook his head. "She came to us like most others do, you know."_

_"Yeah, I understand. I ask that because I train some of the former Jedi kids and they can be like that. She's not half as creepy as they are, though."_

_Vincent laughed. "Oh trust me, Lel and I are convinced she has no Force powers of any sort. No, she's pretty normal, just gifted. Although," the man chuckled, "she seems to hold quite a keen interest in fortune-telling, if you must know. Just yesterday she told me of a black-haired, blonde, and tan Humans that will be extremely important to her in her later life. I neglected to tell her that her father is black-haired and her best friend is a blonde Human."_

_Tee laughed good-naturedly, but then sombered and looked him directly in the eye. "I'm thinking of recommending her for the Calvary, with your permission of course. She would be a great fighter, given the training. I mean, if we have another raid, she can protect herself with the swords, but it might set your minds at ease because of the Imperial activity around."_

_"Thank you, Tee, but actually, Nadya is already training to be in the medical corps when she's older. She quite enjoys it."_

_"Alright, great work everyone!" Tee yelled, as the group finished. "Go take a break. Nadya, meet me back here in ten, okay?"_

_"Okay!" The girl waved to Tee, and her father, who waved graciously back._

_"I accept that, but Vince, you have to think about protecting her. The Imperial activity has been crazy. Two raids just this month? And getting closer to the compound?" She shook her head. "Never in my time here have I seen them so brave."_

_"I know. We've already had to start training her on blasters. I was hoping for at least another year."_

_"How is she on those?"_

_Vincent snorted. "She's great. She's a deadshot. I think the knife tricks, y'know, throwing them helps."_

_"I'd assume. Alright, Nadya, do you remember the solo I taught you last month?"_

_The little girl nodded, standing in the center of the ring._

_"Alright, let's run that, and then we can polish it, okay?" Tee turned to Vince, stepping down into the ring. "Nice speaking with you."_

_"You as well."_

_A bluesy song began playing as Nadya twirled the swords, expertly throwing them and catching them._

_" **Wow. She's good.** " A melodic voice materialized itself behind Vincent, as a dark skinned Human sat down next to him, her tattooed arms reaching into a snack bag. " **Todd told me she would be, but damn."**_

_**"Who are you?"** Vincent side eyed the woman to his left. " **If you've come to hurt me or my family-"**_

_**"My name's Pazima,"** the woman responded, outstretching her hand.  **"Pazima Reynard. I'm the new Fox."**_

_**"Ah. I had heard I should be expecting you. You're Eagle Eye, I'm assuming?"** _

_Pazima clucked her tongue. **"Don't wear it out. I think I'll be out of business soon, however."** Pazima cocked her head at Nadya, who had just performed an impressive twirl of her swords.  **"Anyway, you know how to reach us if you need anything. Have fun with the prodigy."**_

_Pazima left as soon as she had came, disappearing into the black of the tent._

_"Certainly the best place to raise an assassin," Vince muttered to himself, lighting his cigarra. "Always ones for theatrics."_

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corisdor and Enric Kelrian belongs to my friend likemarionettes you should totally go check out her work!!  
> TW: violence

"Move your feet," Lottie commanded, hitting Luke's practice sword, and disarming him with a flick of her wrist, ending the fight with her sword perched at his throat.

"Every time," Luke groaned, picking his sword up from the training room floor. "How are you  _so good?_ "

"Practice," she said simply. "Come on, once more. Now, you see, when I slash this way, you need to move your feet faster so you can block. It's like a dance."

"So  _that's_ how you're so good."

"Of course," Lottie boasted. "Now, we'll do the offense and defense exercises, but moving, alright? One, two, three, four.." Lottie went for strikes above Luke's head and at his sides as she advances toward him, her feet floating gracefully as if they weren't even connected.

"Okay, but how do you do that thing where you deflect all of the blast bolts with your swords?" Luke asked, as he deflected the last strike to his feet. "That's pretty amazing."

"Oh, well, you just take the two swords and twirl them together, but that's more of a sword dancing thing. I kind of invented my own style, y'know? This all came from sword dancing."

"Even the strikes?"

"Even the strikes." Lottie repeated.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Jax told me to brief you guys on the new mission details. We just got word of General Cal Mapa hiding out on Corisdor." Ajax's familiar voice began speaking over the intercom.

"Corisdor?" Luke asked, sitting crosslegged.

"It's in the Expansion Region. Pretty corrupt government, you ever heard of Enric Kelrian?"

"No."

"Good, that's good. Well, anyways, General Cal Mapa is pretty closely associated to our good friend Darth Vader."

"Didn't Luke kill him though?" Lottie tilted her head.

"The Empire hasn't confirmed him, but I'm pretty sure three hundred years could go by and they would still say he was alive. He's staying in an apartment block in Silver City. But, the real reason we want him is he's the main head of rounding up survivors of certain Imperial operations, but especially Horrificus."

"Oh my gods." Lottie fell back, a bright grin spreading across her face. "Ajax, do you think we could make a marriage work?"

"I'm sure we could try," Ajax said emotionlessly. "Lottie, we're capturing him for information. Alive."

"Good, I was going to suggest that," Lottie stood up. "When are we landing?"

"Thirty minutes."

"Alright, I'll suit up." Lottie was already halfway out the door, turning to Luke. "I would get in that cockpit if i were you."

* * *

"Kit, take a left there." Wedge spoke into the comm, watching a camera in Lottie's suit on the Prophet's dashboard. Luke was seated next to him, both of them sharing a bag of popcorn. "Malestrom, you got the doors?"

"Yup." Jax's voice came up as a blurb on the cockpit's holoscreen.

"Alright, two guards coming up, K." Lottie expertly took them out, the swords flying and lodging themselves into their skulls.

"Vixen, where are you at? Got a lot of bogeys here." Lottie fended off a man twice his size, the snap of her skull audibly registering.

"I'm going to all of the nine Corellain hells," Luke mumured dazedly.

Pazima seared a hole through the ceiling, crashing through and taking out all of the guards with a quick-firing blaster.

"Thank you," Lottie said quietly, running toward the hallway. "Which apartment?"

"Thirteen. Lottie, the one is first and it looks like a line, and the three-"

"Oh, shut up." Lottie blasted the doorknob, and kicked the door open. The swords flew in front of the screen, twirling in a blur and killing each of Mapa's guards. "General Mapa?" she called out. "You'll want to come with me."

A human man laughed, standing at the back of the apartment. "The Fox, I'm assuming?"

"Maybe."

"Are you here to rescue me?" He emerged, his brown hair streaked with grey, his blaster pointing at Lottie.

"Not quite." He fired off a shot, but Lottie instantly deflected it with the knives hidden in her hands, running toward Mapa and wrapping her elbow around him in a chokehold, kicking the blaster out of his hand as Pazima appeared in her full armor, pointing a slug gun at him.

"I would come with us, though," Paz said. "Jax?"

"Holy shit, have we forgotten about the codenames?" Jax appeared in the doorway, crossbow in hand.

"Whatever. Kit?"

"Gladly." Lottie hit Mapa firmly on the head, knocking him out and letting his body slump to the ground. "Guys, prep the training room as an interrogation." She walked out of the apartment building, as Paz carried Mapa over her shoulder and Jax led them to the Prophet.

"Interrogation?"

"Oh, Luke, you're gonna love this." Wedge shut off the screen as he began walking toward the rear of the ship, grabbing a mug of kaf along the way. "Watching Lottie work is the closest thing I really get to seeing a holofilm."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: violence  
> This chapter and the previous one could TECHNICALLY be one whole chapter, but I decided to split them up into two.

Luke stood behind a one-way holoscreen, arms crossed as the rest of the Fox Squadron stood, sipping caf. General Cal Mapa was bound in a metal chair, rope wrapped around his torso and his hands cuffed behind the chair. Lottie then walked in confidently into the small area, putting a datapad on the table as she sat across from him, calmly scanning the datapad. She didn't say a word as Mapa eyed her, still sat in the weapon-laden jumpsuit she used as the Fox. She finally looked up, crossing her legs as she untied her ponytail, looking Mapa straight in the eye.

"So, Mapa, I'd like to preface this conversation by stating the fact that you're not getting out alive." She began playing with her hairtie. "But if you want your children alive, I would suggest you answer my questions."

Mapa laughed. "How would you even know where they are."

"Oh really?" Lottie let out a small, humorless laugh. "Your daughter, Jaira? You know, the one who just got engaged? Her apartment on Galactic City is actually quite familiar to me. Your two sons are living with their mother not a block over, next to the bakery that sells the most  _amazing_ bread I've ever tasted. I could easily take them all out, if you don't answer these questions truthfully. However, do as I say and I can give them a good future. Your future isn't looking that great, but I could make their lives easier, despite their scumbag father. Do we have an agreement?"

Mapa nodded. "I want my children to have money."

"They already have that."

"An education."

"They have that too. By good future, Mapa, I mean a life. As in alive. A beating heart. I won't touch your bank account, Cal, although I'm very tempted to. No, if you don't tell me what I want to know, your children's necks will be slit before breakfast, along with your wife and Jaira's lovely fiancee. Understand?"

Luke's eyes bulged as he looked to Pazima. She motioned silence with a finger.

Mapa gulped. "What do you want to know?"

"Where are the Horrificus survivors?" Lottie leaned across the desk.

"They're dead. There are no survivors."

"That lie just cost you your daughter's life. Where are they?"

"I don't know!" Mapa looked at Lottie in horror as she stood up, slamming her fists on the table.

"Bullshit!" she yelled, spitting in his face.

"Honestly, I don't! Listen to me, please, there's a cell of them, a cell of survivors. We discovered them after the Death Star blew up. We've been trying to capture them, but they move infrequently. We found one, a...um...a Umbaran, and Corda experimented on her, but that's it! He was trying to track them, but none of them came up-"

"What about him?" Lottie threw the picture of the black-haired mystery man, Jax looking at Luke excitedly behind the screen. "Where is he?'

"I don't know who that is-"

"Your son just died!" Lottie yelled. "Where is he?!"

"I swear, I don't know!"

"He's telling the truth," Wedge muttered, pressing the microphone in his comm.

Lottie sat back down, her placid nature returning. "Do you want to know why I'm so interested in this, General?" Lottie stood up, unsheathing a sword with a sense of finality.

"No, I don't-" Lottie took the sword and raised her red hair slowly, showing him the Horrificus mark from her ear. She took the sword and nudged one of the medals on his uniform, picking it up with the sharp tip.

"What, did you get this for killing gypsies?" She looked at him, and without pausing, sliced the man's neck, the blood dripping onto his starch uniform.

Lottie faced the screen, sheathing her sword and walking into the room.

"Alright, I'm taking a shower," she said, turning to the group. "Jax, are you getting this cell?"

"Already on it. It's in his files."

"Lottie," Luke looked at her in horror. "What was that?"

"A load of bullshit," Lottie concluded. "That's all interrogation is. I don't kill kids, Luke, I just kill bad people like him." She clapped his shoulder as she walked out of the room.

* * *

"So where do you think that cell is?" Jax asked, as the five of them ate dinner sometime later.

Lottie shrugged, patting her wet curls with a towel as she grabbed some of the meat Jax had cooked. "No idea. Definitely not on Coruscant."

"Yeah, well, no shit."

She sat down next to Luke, throwing the towel over her shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, nudging his side. "Still friends?"

"Of course," Luke responded. "I was just a bit shaken."

"It's all just a character. I don't actually believe that shit." Lottie turned to Paz. "Paz, you think they could be on Xuhiri?"

The woman shook her head. "No, it's overrun with Imperials now, they'd be crawling all over the place. It's good to know they're alive though."

"Hey, is there any old mafia stuff you can do?" Wedge asked, his mouth stuffed with food. "You know, under the radar?"

Lottie shook her head. "A lot of the signals we used are more for real life, not for over HoloNet. Jax, I could type out a message in Lower, see if that could work."

"Yeah, it could."

"Hey, Mapa didn't send out any signals, did he?" Luke questioned.

"No, we took all of his comms before he boarded. We're good." Jax smiled at Luke before returning to his datapad.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Lottie announced, her plate barely touched. "Good night, everyone."

"Night," they all chorused, as Lottie left for the bunks.

"God, that was intense," Wedge asked. "No one likes interrogation, Luke, we have to do it though."

"Yeah. I couldn't though, certainly."

"Oh, could you imagine?" Paz chuckled. "'Hey, um, listen, I really need this information-'" The whole group erupted in laughter, including Luke.

"Yeah, I would be pretty terrible," Luke agreed.

"Alright, well, Luke, we should head out, we have to get to the Rogue Squadron mission tomorrow. Wanna take the Disciple?" The Disciple was the smaller ship that was docked on the Prophet that was reserved for emergencies.

"Sure. Bye guys." Luke and Wedge headed towards the Disciple, on the other end of the Prophet.

"Hey." Wedge stopped him. "I'm really glad you and Lottie are friends. She doesn't have many of them."

"Thanks." Luke half-smiled, looking at the ground. "I suppose most people get scared off."

"Yeah, well, threatening to kill two of your children puts you in a bit of a mood," Wedge said sarcastically. "Wanna fly?"

"Sure." Luke sat at the cockpit of the Disciple, almost scarily similar to the Prophet's. "Where is the mission for the Rogues again?"

"In the Anoat system. Super far away, of course."

"We never get a break, do we?"

"You want one?" Wedge gave Luke a skeptical look.

"No," Luke answered truthfully, pulling the ship in hyperspace. "No, I'm quite alright."


	18. Interlude 6

_The latest blast rocked the Carsons' tenement, shared with the Dorchesters, but Nadya payed it no mind, continuing to simmer meat for their dinner pie._

_"The Empire's really getting active, aren't they?" She turned to Mrs. Carson, an aged woman of brown hair and a short stature._

_"I don't know why they've payed attention all of a sudden. It's not as if they haven't known of our existence."_

_A white-haired boy poked his head through the door. "Hey, is dinner ready yet?"  
_

_Nadya shook her head. "Twenty minutes."_

_He nodded. "Anything I can do to help?"_

_Mrs. Carson shook her head. "Go play with your sisters, Camlo, make sure they don't go outside while the raid is happening."_

_The boy responded with a "Yes, ma'am" and disappeared._

_"You and Camlo make good friends. Have you ever thought about courting?"_

_Nadya chuckled nervously. "I'm only nine, Mrs. Carson. Courting seems so far off. I like being friends with him."  
_

_"Yes, I suppose you aren't interested in boys yet." Another blast shook their footing, making Nadya's knees quake. "Hold onto that pan, we don't want to start a fire."_

_"You know, everyone tells me I should join the Calvary like my dads," Nadya said thoughtfully, stirring the contents of the pan. "But I'm not sure if I want to do that. I think, once I'm done sword dancing, I'll be a mum. Like you."_

_Mrs. Carson smiled at the young girl. "I suppose you would make a good wife. You can cook, you're training in the med tent."_

_"Yeah, but do you think I would make a good mum?" She put an oven mitt on and took out a finished meat pie. "You know, like you."_

_Mrs. Carson sighed heavily. "All good mums are fierce, Nadya. You've already commited to the Horrificus family with you tattoo."_

_"Of course." She rubbed the burn behind her ear, still aching slightly._

_"But you must commit to_ your  _family. These people, the Empire, they'll always be trying to come after you. But you must fight them. If anyone hurts your family, Nadya, you hurt them back."_

_Nadya nodded, but ducked as a piece of metal came crashing through their window. "I suppose that was the Vinsons," she muttered solemnly. "Do you think the Calvary will be back in time for dinner."_

_The older woman shook her head. "It's getting bad out there, Nadya. It doesn't look it, but I can feel it. I've been around this too long."_

_"And you're a Jedi," Nadya laughed._

_"I suppose that helps." The woman went quiet. "Nadya, take your kitchen knife. They're coming."_

_She nodded, taking a butcher knife from the cabinet. "Where are you going?"_

_"I'm going to hide the young ones. Camlo will join you in a minute. If they come in, you kill them, do you understand me?"_

_Nadya gulped, fear brewing in her eyes. "They're gonna hurt my family, right?"_

_"That's right." The woman disappeared as Nadya hid in the corner of their kitchen unit, holding the knife in front of her protectively._

_"Hey, this is exciting, huh Nadya?" Camlo sat next to her eagerly, cocking his blaster back._

_"No, it isn't. It's terrifying," she admitted. Mrs. Carson appeared in the edge of the doorway, holding a sawed-off double barreled blaster._

_"This should take them out," she said, a wild determination in her eyes. "They're not taking my kids."_


	19. Chapter 19

Luke knocked softly on the door of Lottie's bunkroom, completely quiet in the dead of night. She opened it bleary-eyed, her hair in low pigtails and clad in sleep boxers and a tank top.

"Yeah, what?" she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.

"Do you mind if I sleep here? Sorry, it's really weird when Wedge isn't in my bunkroom."

"Yeah, go ahead." She extended the door, allowing him into the bunkroom. "You can take Jax's bunk, it's the top one across from mine. He and Paz are out too."

"I know, I think they are on some mission together."

"Mission," Lottie said, extending air quotes. "I think that's code for drinking themselves drunk. Want a nightcap?" She opened a bottle of vodka, pouring herself half a glass.

"That's alright."

"Suit yourself." She downed the bottle in one throw, climbing back into her bunk. "I don't sleep well without other people either. I've never really had a room to myself, so I guess it's just too quiet."

"What's that by your pillow?" Luke said, pointing at a gleaming something poking out under the fluffy pillowcase.

"Oh, that? It's a knife. I sleep with one at all times."

"Seriously?" Luke snorted.

"Of course. You'd be surprised how many times I've needed it."

"I don't doubt it. Hey, do you ever wish your life had turned out differently?"

Lottie considered the question for a moment, but than shook her head. "No. I suppose you're wondering if I'm happy killing people for a living, and the answer is yes, because they're all shitty people. I don't kill innocents when I have a choice and I don't kill children, no exceptions. Unless it was little baby Vader, then maybe I could kill him."

Luke laughed. "I don't think I would stop you."

"Yeah, I bet he was an asshole." She coughed, turning over in her bed. "Remind me someday to stop smoking," she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed.

"Alright." He turned to face the wall, a smile on his face as he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

* * *

"Luke! Luke!" Jax ran up to him the next day, bounding at full speed. "I need to talk to you."

"Woah, slow down. What's going on?" Luke held his hands up, putting down his datapad.

"Let's go in that abandoned closet." Jax pulled him in with full force, slamming the door shut and locking it.

"I feel like I'm in a horror novel," Luke quipped.

"Oh shut up. Listen, do you remember that cell of Horrificus survivors we've been trying to find for like, months?"

"Yeah?" Luke replied expectantly.

"Well, guess who found them! Up top!" He and Luke slapped high fives.

"That's great! Where are they?"

"Get this-Corellia. They're hiding in plain sight." Jax fumbled and took out his datapad, scrolling through pictures. "It's actually really genius-"

"Have you told Lottie yet?"

"Well, no, of course not." Jax looked up at him as if his answer was obvious.

"Why? She has a right to know, in fact, if anyone has a right it's her-"

"That's just the problem." Jax put his datapad back in his backpack, looking seriously at Luke. "Listen, this has almost a seventy-five percent chance of being a trap, Luke. They're trying to attract sympathy. Even if we didn't have a crazy Horrificus survivor who enjoys mutilating any and all people that had anything remotely to do with it on our side, the Alliance would probably still try to come after them."

"So you're not going to tell her?" Luke stepped back, crossing his arms.

"No. And you better not either. Because this?" Jax held up his datapad. "This could very well kill her. You know most Foxes don't even make it to twenty?"

"Really?!"

"Yeah. I mean, she's gonna die young no matter what but-That's not the point. The point is, you tell her, and she's gonna walk into a trap. It doesn't matter if she can't fly, can't read, can't write-she'll find a way to Corellia, and she'll find a way to this cell. And I don't know what it is, but-" Jax sighed heavily. "I have a  _really_  bad feeling about this. You have to promise me you won't tell her."

"I promise."

"Swear?"

"I swear," Luke repeated. "I don't think it's  _right,_  but I won't tell her."

 

 


	20. Chapter 20

"Hey, Jax, hit me with that good stuff." Jax passed Lottie a shot glass filled with Correllian whiskey, as she downed it in one go. "Damn, that stuff is good."

"Yeah, I know. I told you we brought you back good souvenirs on our mission."

"Where'd you even get this?" Lottie examined the brown bottle, leaning back on the chairs, nearly hitting another table of pilots fighting over a sabacc game.

"Oh, Paz nicked it off this bar we were at. It was really hilarious, Wedge had to flirt with the bartender just so she could."

"Sorry I missed it," Lottie muttered. "Hey, did you find that cell of survivors yet?"

Jax gave Luke a glare, and then shook his head at Lottie. "No, not yet. I'll tell you as soon as we do."

"Yeah, that sucks. Want to play sabacc?"

"I thought you hated that game," Luke pointed out. He could barely even  _look_ at her.

Lottie inhaled, raising her eyebrows at Luke, but then leaned forward, her chair landing on the table with a definite  _clack._ "I'm bored," she declared. "And the gods know this conversation could use some livelihood anyway-"

"I heard she killed someone when she was  _nine._ " Lottie's head snapped, looking in the direction of the chattering girls. "You know, because she was in the gang."

"I swear, if I hear gang one more time-" 

Luke grabbed her arm, Lottie looking at his hand with her nostrils flaring. "Lottie, you said yourself, they're not worth it."

"I'm sick and tired of hearing people insult my family," she muttered, throwing his arm back onto the table. Jax looked at Luke over his glass of whiskey, raising his eyebrows. "Hey," Lottie said in a sickly sweet voice, leaning over the girls' table. "I couldn't help but overhear your  _lovely_ conversation, and I just wanted to confirm the rumors that yes, I did kill someone when I was nine. With that in mind, I'm just wondering why you're continuing to insult me and my family. Or as you so eloquently put it, the  _gang._ "

A blond looked at her, holding her hands up. "We didn't mean-"

"I would leave, if I were you," Lottie suggested, the smile not leaving her face. The girls quietly shuffled out of the room, as Lottie sat down at the table, finishing one of their glasses.

"We have to tell her," Luke whispered, glaring at Jax.

"No, Luke, do you want her to die?"

"I don't want to die!" he hissed. "She nearly killed those girls because they called Horrificus a gang!"

"Oh please, Luke, that's all bark and no bite."

"But still!" He sighed, his tone calming. "Maybe it's not a trap. You know, I highly doubt they would hide out on a populous planet like that and know they were gonna die."

Jax shrugged. "It could be true, but Luke-" He grabbed Luke's wrist. "I'm worried that if she goes over there, it won't just be stormtroopers waiting for her-or us. There could be bad people there, Luke, really bad people."

Luke pulled his wrist away, leaning back in his chair and looking at Lottie. "It's not right."

"No it's not, but that's war, Luke."

* * *

Luke ambushed Lottie in the med bay, hastily slurring his words together. "Lottieihavetotalktoyou."

"Fuck, Luke, speak. You know I'm slow." She chuckled to herself as she pulled of her gloves. "What's up?"

"Jax is lying. I'm lying. We found the cell."

"What?!" Lottie dropped her gloves, turning to him with a glare on her face. "And why,  _exactly,_ did you feel the need to not tell me about this?"

"Jax was worried that you might die-"

"Oh, hell, die, die, die, I'm going to die anyways!" she yelled, slamming her hands on the sink. "You did right by telling me this," she said quietly. "But I hope you know what comes next."

"What?"

"Where are they?" Lottie asked, turning to him.

"Corellia. I have their coordinates."

"Good. We're going to borrow the Prophet and fly to them."

"What are you going to do there, Lottie?" Luke asked desperately.

"I don't know," she answered, not quite to him. "I don't know, but I have to see them. I have to see them for myself."

"When exactly are you planning to steal the Prophet?"

"Got any plans tonight?" Lottie cocked an eyebrow. "Meet me here at 2300."

 


	21. Interlude 7

_"Come on, push, Simza, you're doing great!" Nadya encouraged, holding the woman's hand._

_"It hurts, it hurts!" she screamed, as the other medics awaited the baby. Nadya thought her bones would break as Simza let out an ear-splitting shriek, giving out one final push._

_"She's here!" Abela said. "You're daughter's arrived. She's beautiful."_

_Simza panted, as Nadya squeezed her hand lightly. "Congratulations," she whispered, a bright smile on her face._

_"Nadya, come help us clean off her daughter," Abela commanded._

_"Yes, Auntie," she said, rushing over to where the other medics were cooing over the child. "She's beautiful," Nadya whispered, giving Abela a wide-eyed stare. "I was beginning to wonder if it was all worth it."_

_Abela chuckled, calling to Simza. "Sim, was it worth it?"_

_"Yes," Simza breathed, as Nadya smiled. She touched the girl's wispy curls in awe._

_"Would you like to give Simza her child?" Nadya nodded eagerly, swaddling the little girl and holding her, patting her lightly on the back._

_"Here you go," she whispered, gingerly passing the child to Simza, who had tears forming in her eyes._

_"Thank you, Nadya." She kissed the girls hand, and began stroking her child, the scene perfectly picturesque. All of the medics clapped, beaming smiles adorning each of them._

_"Well," Abela said, clapping her hands. "I think this calls for some champagne, even for you, Nadya, you're old enough." The medics cheered, a teenage one, Jaelle, wrapping her arm around Nadya's thin shoulders. Abela poured out hearty amounts of champagne for each of them, as Nadya sniffed it suspiciously._

_"It's barely any alcohol," Jaelle whispered. "Just wait till you try vodka."_

_Nadya laughed appreciatively. "So," Abela began, turning to Simza, who was still enamored with her new child. "What will her name be?"_

_"Ditey," she said, after a short pause. "Yes, Ditey. That was my aunt's name."_

_"To Ditey Hearn," Abela said, raising her glass._

_"To Ditey Hearn." Nadya put the glass to her lips, and instantly smiled-the champagne tasted like heaven._

_"Well, will one of you go ring the bells?" Abela asked. "The whole circus needs to know about our beautiful new member."_

_"I will!" Jaelle called happily. "Everyone should be up anyway."_

_"Yes, it's a beautiful morning," Abela agreed._

_Simza laughed, as Ditey yawned in her arms. "Oh, did you see that? She yawned!" The other medics giggled._

_"Well, the rest of you are free to go," Abela called. "Nadya, I'm going to go speak to your father, make sure he knows the count. Would you mind watching Simza for me until I come back?"_

_"Sure," Nadya agreed happily. The medics climbed out of the small tent as Nadya perched on one of the stretchers._

_"Oh, Nadya," Simza began. "I hope you become a mother someday. Just for this moment."_

_Nadya nodded. "It looks amazing."_

_Simza chuckled. "It's more than that, Nadya, it's-undescribable." Nadya nodded as she looked at Ditey, who began crying._

_"What's wrong?" Simza asked her baby. "Tired?"_

_"It's a big day for her," Nadya pointed out. "I can wrap her up in the crib, make sure her swaddle is safe, and if you'd like, you can wash off your clothes."_

_"Oh, yes." Simza chuckled. "I didn't even notice. Thank you, Nadya." The girl nodded, taking the baby and bouncing her in her arms, singing her a lullaby as Simza washed up at their sink. After Nadya had gone through every lullaby twice, she laid the sleeping baby in the crib, touching her feet lightly._

_"Alright, she's aslee-" Nadya's voice stopped in her throat as she was flung forward, crashing into Ditey's crib, her ears ringing and splinters of wood scraping her arms as she faded into unconsciousness._


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: violence

"Isn't this  _so_ much better than following the rules?" Lottie jumped in front of Luke, twirling, her hair in braids and her fringy top blowing in the breeze. The streets of Corellia were lively with vendors, taking advantage of the bright, sunny day. Lottie looked happier than she had ever looked, her hazel eyes shining brightly. She had even picked flowers and woven them into her hair. It was as if she was a completely different person, almost a child.

"I don't know, I do like living." Luke looked at Lottie skeptically as she rolled her eyes, stopping in her tracks.

"Oh, shush. But, before I forget," she outstretched her hands as she handed Luke a cup filled with some sort of soft solid food, covered with tiny candies. "Happy birthday!"

"How'd you know?!" Luke exclaimed, giving her a hug.

"I'm a medic, I know everyone's birthdays. Try that, you'll love it." They walked side-by-side as she pulled out her own treat.

"What is it?" Luke poked at it skeptically with the cheap spoon they gave him.

"It's called ice cream. I'm guessing you've never had it before." She laughed. "It's really good, I promise."

"You're not trying to poison me?" Lottie glared and shoved him playfully as he laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll try it." He took a bite, and instantly felt the chocolaty confection melt in his mouth, cool and creamy and delicious and refreshing, all at the same time. "Holy _shit,"_ he exclaimed, turning to Lottie as she nodded. "That's amazing."

"Uh-huh. I told you." She took a bite of her own ice cream, then began speaking conversationally. "There used to be this shop back on Coruscant that had the best ice cream ever. Me and my friends would always go after a really good show."

"Do you think I could marry this ice cream?" Luke asked, pointing to it as he took another bite.

Lottie laughed. "I'm sure all the girls will just be crying when they've found out that eligible bachelor Luke Skywalker is off the market due to ice cream."

"Dude, if I could figure out a way to get this to Tatooine, I would make a killing," Luke exclaimed.

"You could take me with you and I could finally earn an honest living," Lottie replied jokingly.

"Oh no," Luke said, laughing to himself as he ate more of the ice cream, "No, you'd find some way to turn it into an ice cream mafia."

Lottie laughed heartily and fully, nearly spitting out her own ice cream. "Ice cream mafia, I like the sound of that."

"You know you would though."

"Yeah, probably. I mean, lace that with spice and you've got an added profit right there."

"See what I mean?"

Lottie laughed. "You've got chocolate on your mouth," she said suddenly, smearing a napkin all over his face.

"Thanks, Mom," Luke said sarcastically. "Hey, I was gonna ask you, are you really not supposed to make it 'till twenty?"

"Nope," Lottie said cheerfully. "Nope, they're giving me twenty-five at best."

"How are you okay with that?"

She shrugged. "I've made my peace with it. I mean, you don't have that great of a lifespan either, hotshot."

"No, no, I guess not-"

"Luke," Lottie whispered, dropping her playful tone. "I know him."

"Know who?" Luke looked over the vendors.

"Do you see the white-haired Human being dragged away by all of those stormtroopers over there?" Lottie asked, pointing to his left.

"Oh," Luke said. "You know him?"

"He's Horrificus." Lottie ran, dropping her ice cream in a waste receptacle and Luke, sadly, followed suit. She hid behind a bush, peeking her head out of the top. "Do you have your blaster?" she asked.

"Yes. Do you have your stuff?" She nodded. "He's boarding that speeder, Lotti-"

"On the count of three, we hop on. Do you see the cargo hold?"

"Yes."

"We're going for that. It'll pass us in one, two-" Lottie gracefully leaped onto the cargo, Luke running after her. She caught him just in time, and pulled him up onto the speeder.

"Where are we going?" he whispered, as Lottie eyed the driver.

"No idea," she asked, slumping against the side of the hold. "At least we picked the right one." She motioned to the sniper rifle above her head, and the other weapons scattered around the truck. They both sat in silence for a moment, gathering their thoughts as they headed to the mystery location. After a pause, she spoke again. "We've stopped."

"What do we do?" Luke had a hint of worry in his voice, looking at Lottie expectantly. She pulled him out of sight of the door, covering his mouth with his hands as two guards reached in for their weapons.

"And anyway, I'm thinking the wife and I can take a vacation soon. She gets bored of Coruscant, y'know-"

Luke looked at Lottie in absolute fear as she eyed the guards, grabbing a knife silently from a holster under her shirt.

"Yeah." They both closed the door, and Lottie instantly crawled to look through the crack of light, seeing both of them were walking out towards a barn that they had parked near. She breathed a sigh of relief, turning to Luke.

"We're good," she answered his silent question. "Come on."

"There's not a lot of places to hide here," Luke observed.

"Shut up," Lottie grunted, still holding her knife. "Get your blaster out."

"We're not going to take them on, right?"

"I'm not an idiot!" she hissed, pulling him down into a bush as more guards made their way into the barn. They waited until all of them had passed, and then Lottie directed him toward the side of the building. "There's a window here. We can just watch. We're just observing."

The white haired boy was pulled up from the ground, blood smeared on his face, one that looked too young for his current predicament.

"Oh, Cam," Luke thought he heard Lottie whisper, as her shoulders slumped a minuscule amount. The guards moved wordlessly, and then parted their way as a metallic figure, robed in all black, stepped forward, ignited a red lightsaber.

"It's Vader," Luke whispered. "He's alive." Vader raised his lightsaber and placed it at the boy's neck. Lottie had stopped breathing, and was incomprehensibly whispering words in something Luke couldn't even pick up, a language he had never heard. He looked at the boy, who seemed to be looking straight at Lottie. He mouthed something at her, a puzzling look, one with hope in his eyes, and then-

Even if the boy's head hadn't separated from his body and reached the ground, even if Lottie hadn't let out a deafening wail, and even if Luke hadn't picked her up, kicking and screaming against the barn wall, he had a slumping feeling in his stomach that Vader would have still looked right at that window, the black eyes imprinted on the mask boring straight into him. Lottie was ripped from his grasp as the tears still flowed down her face, red and wailing, and Luke reached out for her desperately, both of them being dragged into the barn.


	23. Chapter 23

"This is a day that will be long remembered by the Empire." Luke looked up at Vader, towering over him as Luke kneeled on the ground, a blaster jammed at his head by both of the guards that had dragged him there in the first place. Vader's voice was deeper than he expected, a low, metallic timber that seemed to incite fear in even his guards. "I recognized your presence as soon as young Camlo had looked at your little friend here. You are the one that destroyed the Death Star, am I correct?"

"Go to hell," Luke spat.

"I think that confirms it," Vader said, turning dramatically. "And you, young one. What is your name?" He turned to Lottie, whose tear tracks were still fresh.

Lottie looked up at him, an anger in her face that would have scared off any living man. Of course, Luke wasn't even sure Vader  _was_ a man. "You killed my friend," she hissed, spitting at his feet. "You'll pay for this, Vader."

He laughed, a low, humorless laugh. "Oh, I'm sure," he replied, turning and speaking to no one in particular. "Today will mark the end of Horrificus, and the end of the most wanted man to the galaxy." He turned again to Lottie. "Oh, yes. All of your little friends here are dead, young one. I have a few, however, that I have yet to kill. Shall I-"

"No!" She yelled, standing up. Her short stature barely even made Darth Vader's chestplate. "No, I'll tell you whatever you want, just please, don't kill them." She looked toward a corner, where four other survivors were huddled, scared in a corner. Luke followed her gaze and saw him, the mystery man that he and Jax were so fascinated by. His comical face was in severe distress, as he and Lottie never left each others' gaze.

Darth Vader laughed again, and threw her towards Luke. "I'll get to you in a second," he growled. "Now, let's start with the women."

"Lottie, are you okay?" He put his arm around her, as she shook violently, not looking him in the eye. Her eyes were still fixed on the black-haired man. They were mouthing words to each other as a woman fell and screamed, both of them wincing but continuing. "Lottie, what are you saying?" he whispered, rubbing the small of her back.

"We're going to try to make a break for it," she said through her teeth, not breaking her gaze.

"What?"

"You, me, and that man, see him, the one with the black hair?"

"Yes."

"We're gonna try and run. Reach under my shirt."

" _Excuse me?"_ Luke looked at her, appropriately scandalized as she rolled her eyes.

"I have three knives underneath my shirt in a bra holster. Thank the gods they didn't search me," she muttered. "Do you know how to use them?"

"Yes, I can throw them."

"Good, get one." Luke awkwardly fumbled around underneath her shirt until he found a knife, and hid it in the hay that they had landed on. "I'll explain all of this later."

"Alright, now for the men." The first man to step forward was a Togruta, and then it was only the black-haired man left. Luke felt knots in his stomach as she tightened her grip on her knife. Luke clutched Lottie's hand, interweaving their fingers. Lottie's eyes bulged as he took it, but he nodded, trying to reassure her.

"The last one. The last male survivor." The guards dragged the man, as he yelled desperately at Lottie.

" _J_ _il ne ag duvais pachun fairenamh!"_ His nasal voice was slightly choked with tears, not taking his eyes off of her.

" _Aon, Papa!"_ Lottie was sobbing so hard she was shaking, the knife wobbling violently in her hands.

" _Reachourse, Lolli! Reachourse!"  
_

Lottie looked up at him and ran, her knife plunging into the guard's chest. Vader growled incomprehensibly at the guards as they made it through the door, and the last thing they saw was the black haired man falling to the ground, Vader's lightsaber impaled on his chest.

 _"Papa!"_ Lottie was screaming, wailing so loudly and so violently it was against human nature. Her entire, small body was racked with such savage sobs that she stumbled and fell, shrieking that one word over and over-" _Papa! Papa!"_ _  
_

"Lottie, we gotta go, Lottie-" She was not responding. She didn't even seem to notice his presence, she just curled up and weeped, clutching the grass with her hand.

"Alright," he said, gritting his teeth. He picked Lottie up, her arms wrapping around his neck as he ran to the speeder. He blasted the cargo hold, knowing it would only slow them down. He placed her gently at the back of the speeder, and she finally seemed to realize where she was and what she was doing.

"Luke-"

"It's alright, Lottie, it's alright." He patted her knee as he blasted the speeder full force, escaping from the barn. "We're gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay."

* * *

 

"We can't go back to base." Lottie appeared in the Disciple's cockpit, the Prophet already being autopiloted by Ajax to Marduous 5. She had a blanket wrapped around her, a mug of tea in her hand.

"I know," Luke said softly. "I don't know where we can go though."

"I do." She handed Luke a slip of paper. "Plug in these coordinates, it's a safehouse."

"Where did you-"

"It was my family's," she said, sipping her tea. "It'll be safe."

"I've already told base about Vader." Luke patted her hand. "Get some rest, I'll fly us out there."

"Thank you." Lottie touched his shoulder gingerly, and walked out of the cockpit.

 


	24. Interlude 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> or: "O Children"

_Nadya awoke to a ringing in her right ear, a pounding headache, blurred vision, and the strangest feeling that the world was on fire. She didn’t know how long she was out, or even where she was. She tried dazedly to sit up, but realized that her bed seemed to be shaking and the tent spinning._

_The first thing she noticed was a shard of glass. She ran to a bed and hastily put gauze around it, pulling the glass out gingerly. It was covered in blood, and hurt, really hurt. Just doing that caused her to collapse, lying motionless on the bed. She still couldn't hear a thing._

_She caught her breath on the bed, her little feet dangling. Her left ear started to pick up sound again, hearing...absolute silence. Which was strange. In the world of circuses, it was never quiet. She slowly turned her head to look, drowsily letting her eyes refocus to consciousness. Suddenly, almost piercingly, she heard a baby’s wail._

_Ditey._

_She stood up, her vision returning, albeit still a bit blurry, and walked over, slowly, to the crib. Ditey was wailing, her fat fists waving in the air._

_“Oh shh,” cooed Nadya, picking her up and bouncing her on her leg. “Let’s find Mama, yes? Yes, that sounds nice.”_

_Nadya took a half step when she shrieked, nearly dropping Ditey in her arms._

_She had found her mother, sprawled out, on the ground, blood covering her pretty face._

_Nadya turned to the nearest sink and threw up, Ditey still crying unceasingly in her arms. She had never seen anyone dead, and felt the pounding return in her stomach._

_She quickly moved out of the tent, and her eyes focused on the most horrific sight they had ever seen._

_Strewn around her, where once was the hustle and bustle of the circus living quarters, were seas of dead bodies. The tents were collapsed, some in flakes and burnt shards of fabric floating in the air. She instantly wrapped the scarf she was wearing around her mouth. The air was thick will the smell of burning metal and blood._

_Gingerly, she stepped around the bodies, seeing faces she recognized. Tee, the sword dancing master. Ja’in, the Togruta man who made rings. Each faces caused more tears to sting her eyes, and more knots to form in her stomach. She hoisted Ditey higher on her hip, no real clear thought in her head forming except “Get out.”_

_With no clear intention, she headed north, to the rest of the entertainment district outside of their complex. Each step she took, more and more bodies littered the ground._

_Desperately, she tried to piece together what happened. She was lying on the bed in the med tent, when she held a loud boom, and then everything went black, and now she was here, and everyone was dead. But why? And how?_

_Another disturbing thought entered her head. Where was Da and Papa? Were they one of the bodies lying dead, or were they like her, wandering the complex aimlessly?_

_“Da? Papa?” she called. Her voice was weak and hoarse. “It’s me, Nadya. Your Nadya, Lolli. Can you hear me?”_

_No answer. Of course. She kept wandering, aimlessly searching for her home among the rubble. Perhaps her fathers were there, waiting for her. A hazy image formed on her mind of Papa, his black hair messy but his wide smile there, holding out his arms for her. Da was next to him, reading the news on his datapad and sipping a cup of tea, but noticing her and pushing up his glasses, saying in his deep voice, “It will all be alright now, Lolli. We will be alright.”_

_She turned on the row of houses that should’ve been her row. She stopped at her house, or what should have been her house. The small wood tenement was nearly collapsed in on itself, the burnt wood chips searing holes in the plants of their once-beautiful garden. She poked her head inside, desperate to find someone, anyone, to ease her pain. Her toe found itself into something hard, but yet soft, and Lolli instantly knew it was blood._

_She had accidentally touched the leg of Mr. Carson, lying limp on his kitchen the floor, his leg completely torn as if by an animal, the white bits of bone sticking out of his leg like a splinter. His wife lay slumped over the kitchen counter. She was probably cooking, Nadya realized. It was lunchtime, the last time she remembered._

_One thought in her mind was to grab her blaster and her swords from the upper apartment. She ran up the stairs, half-decrepit. Her mind snapped and that was all she cared about. If she was alone, which she might as well be save for Ditey, she needed to protect herself._

_She desperately strapped the blaster holster to her thigh, buckling the thick fabric of her cargo pants in two, and her two twin sword sheaths wrapped themselves in an X across her chest._

_Suddenly, in the deep recesses of the Dorchester’s apartment, there was a man’s voice, a desperate one._

_“Vince? Nadya? Anyone? Can anyone hear me?”_

_Nadya gasped, putting the last sword in its sheath with lightning speed. Da! “Yes, Da! Yes, I can hear you!”_   
_“Where are you?”_

_She started running, careful to protect Ditey’s head. “Da, I’m coming!”_

_Nadya stopped dead in her tracks. Her father was slumped against the wall, clutching the burnt and bloody stump that once was his right arm. The hand at Ditey’s head flew to her mouth, to try to stop herself from vomiting again._

_Tears streamed down her face as she knelt to meet his eyes.“Da, what happened-”_

_“Lolli, there is no time. You need to listen to me.”_

_The young girl nodded._

_“You get away from here, far away. Do not use your last name, no matter what, from here on out. Do you understand?”_

_“Yes, Da.”_

_“If you find any more children, you tell them to go with you. Their mummies and daddies will find them in time, if they’re alive at all, okay? But if they don’t, you are their mummy, Lolli. You have to take care of them.”_

_“But Da, what about you and-”_

_“Don’t you worry about me. I’m going to find Papa, and we’ll try to find you. But Lolli, if we don’t find you in the main city-”_   
_“Da!” Nadya wailed. “Don’t say that!”_

_“No, Nadya, I have to. Do you have your blaster?”_

_She nodded, tears stinging her eyes._

_“You shoot anyone who tries to hurt you, but only use it as a last resort. When you’re out there, find Pazima Reynard, or Todd Greenberg. When you find them, do whatever they say.”_

_“But how will I know it’s them? What if they use a fake name?”_

_“She is beautiful, and her back and chest are covered in tattoos of roses. He has red hair exactly your shade. Do you remember the party we once had at the Carsons?”_

_Nadya laughed, a hasty, desperate laugh. “We had lots of parties at the Carsons.”_

_Da shook his head. "He danced the reel with us once. Listen to me, Nadya. There are a lot of things about you that Papa and I didn't get a chance to tell you. There's a reason why you are so good at sword dancing and so good at shooting. If you find either of them, they will tell you everything."_

_“Da, I can’t leave you.” She clutched his shoulders, tears running down her face._

_“You must, Lolli, you must. You are stronger than I will ever be, and someday, you’ll save millions of lives. But you must go. Go now, Lolli, and live. That is all I want.”_

_Nadya nodded. “Yes Da. I love you.”_

_“I love you too, remember that. Goodbye, Nadezhda.”_

_“Goodbye, Da.” She couldn’t bring herself to leave his struggling form._

_“Go, go! Take care of Ditey!”_

_The push from her wounded father sent her running, clutching Ditey with the tears falling down her face like waterfalls. She sidestepped bodies like it was second nature, running desperately to the smoke and artificial lights of the Uscru underworld._

_She nearly tripped when a boy called her name._

_“Nadya?”_

_“Camlo!” A smile lit on her face when she saw the white-haired boy running toward her. “You’re okay!”_   
_“You are too! I can’t believe it!” They hugged, and only when they broke did she notice Camlo was toting two of his sisters in tow, and he noticed the baby in her arms._

_“What the hell happened?” she said. She only briefly noticed the swear word slip from her lips. She had never sworn before._

_“It was the Empire. They broke the peace, and they bombed us. I don’t know where my parents are, but-”_

_Nadya’s face fell, remembering the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Carson, lying helplessly on the floor as if they were rag dolls. “Camlo, I-”_   
_“Did you see them?” He didn’t have much hope, but Nadya could see it, locked there in his eyes, hooded as they may be. “Were they okay?”_

_Nadya opened her mouth, but no sound came. She shook her head, giving Camlo a sad look. “I’m sorry,” she whispered._

_Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crash, and Ditey’s renewed wails._

_Camlo looked up, spotting the starships flying over the complex. “They’re back. They’re bombing us again.”_

_“We have to go. We have to get to the city.”Nadya dragged him by his hand. “C’mon.”_

_“Got anywhere in mind?” he asked, as they ran side by side._

_“Anywhere where we don’t get bits of shrapnel stuck in our eyes,” Nadya replied. “You girls okay back there?”_

_The two sisters nodded, scared but keeping up well with Nadya and Camlo._

_Out of nowhere, Nadya noticed something stir up in her stomach, and she grabbed Camlo’s shirt, pulling him down behind an old advertisement sign as a piece of wood flew and landed in front of them._

_“We have to go,” Nadya declared, Camlo looking wide eyed at her._

_“Nadya, your parents-”_   
_“If they weren’t dead before, they are now,” she yelled over the drone of the spaceship engines, fighting back tears. The girl looked at the hulking black mass of the city with a weariness and desperation in her hazel eyes that wasn’t present before. that she knew really belonged to her father. She hoisted Ditey up on her side, and turned to face Camlo, her singed red hair tickling Ditey’s cheek. “We’re on our own.”_

 


	25. Chapter 25

Luke swung his feet over the edge of the dock, his bare toes just touching the crystal clear water. It would never cease to amaze him how beautiful this all was, the lake, the dock, the bay. He always had to restrain himself from asking how they got the water there and remember it appeared on its own, no moisture farming involved.

He hadn't talked to Lottie that whole day, after she had directed him to the safehouse. She gave him a quick tour and told him she would be in the shower, and he hadn't seen her since. In some small part of his mind he had thought Lottie was devoid of feelings, in a way. She was always calm, collected, had something witty to say. He had only seen her get angry before, and he would briefly see something in her eyes when she spoke of Horrificus, but never would he see her cry or scream.

"Hi." Lottie materialized behind him, sitting next to him on the dock. "I'm sorry about being so distant."

"No, take your time," Luke replied. She didn't look at him in the eye, just sighed and folded her arms.

"That man," she began, looking somewhere at his knee. "He was my father. The one who died."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Lottie shrugged in reply, looking out at the cool water.

"Don't be. His name was Vincent." She nodded, gulping. "Vincent Dorchester, he, um, he officiated the ceremonies. He would sing this song," she laughed colorlessly, "in that 'orrible accent of his. I had another dad too, Lel Dorchester. He ran the whole place. They took me in, trained me, raised me-" She breathed deeply. "I loved them very much. They were brave to take me in, because technically, I wasn't born, but made using old clone technology left over from the war." She nodded at Luke's incredulous face. "Yeah, I, um, they created me to be the Fox, but there was this attack on the facility when I was born, so they took me to the circus. The last time I saw, um, Lel, was in our house after it was bombed. I have no idea where he is, I thought both of them were dead, but, I guess not everything that I think is true is.

"The, um, the boy, with the white hair, his name was Camlo Carson, Cam for short." She half-smiled, as if thinking of a memory. "We lived on the streets together after the bombings. We took care of two of his sisters and this little newborn." She sombered, looking at her lap. "One of the sisters didn't last the winter. We caught up with another group, three boys, and all but one died within a year. I took the job at the brothel to get money and food. It was shitty, no doubt, but it was a job." She began choking back the tears stinging at her eyes. "That happened for two years, and then I met Paz, and then I became the Fox." She huffed, turning at him with a forced smile, her eyes red. "Any questions?"

"No, not really," Luke said, shaking his head. "Lottie, I'm so sorry. About everything."

She shook her head. "It was in the past. I've made my peace with it a long time ago."

"But Vincent-"

"It hurts more than I imagined," she declared, catching Luke off-guard. "Seeing him again, after all these years..." she shook her head. "It fucking hurts."

"I know, Lottie," he replied, rubbing her back.

"I haven't told anyone else this," Lottie said, looking at him with tears falling down her face. "Not Wedge, not Jax," she paused to sniffle, "Paz knew because she was there and because they told her about me when she joined up. I suppose it goes without saying that I would really like it if you didn't repeat this to anyone."

"Of course not," Luke responded. "Lottie, that's very brave of you to tell me. Thank you."

She nodded, smiling slightly, but then fresh tears began stinging her face.

"Hey, what's up?" Luke ran a hand through her tangled hair, as she shook her head, suddenly too choked up to even speak. She rested her head on his shoulder, sobbing violently into his shirt as Luke slowly wrapped his arm around her.

"The last thing he told me," she said finally. "He told me he couldn't make it, and he told me to run. I shouldn't have ran, I shouldn't have ran-"

"Lottie, what choice did we have?" Luke asked rhetorically. "What Vincent did was very brave, and I'm sure he would've wanted you to live rather than to have you die right after him."

"That's just the thing," Lottie replied. "Dying I can do. Dying is easy. I've died before, when Horrificus was bombed, when I had to leave my street family. It's living that I'm afraid of."

Luke sat with her, as her body racked with fresh wails, sobbing uncontrollably in his shoulder. For the first time in his life, he felt another being's pain-maybe their true pain. Maybe it was the Force, maybe it wasn't, but in that moment, he felt it-the death of her father, the uncertainty of her future, the betrayal, the guilt, all of her emotions became his for that brief moment.

"It'll be alright, Lottie," he whispered, running a hand through her hair. "You got me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE FOX SQUAD WILL RETURN IN
> 
> "NOWHERE TO RUN"


End file.
